Call Me
by Minikimii
Summary: Call me in ten years, cutie. I'll be waiting. AkuRoku, SoRiku, Zemyx
1. Note

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix.

**WARNING: **This fanfic contains copious amounts of **gay men**. Fangirls with heart conditions are advised not to read too deeply into the fanfic. (This also applies to fangirls without heart conditions.) It's very sexy. See? See how sexy it is? It's very sexy. I would like open up the page read it myself - except I'm already the author! Now, without further ado, please enjoy this twisting of the canon universe by any, every, and all means possible. :) [Parody of YGO:TAS ep. 24 is by ME.]

[Revamped: 04/22/09]

[Re-revamped 01/01/11. Dammit, FFN! Taking away my centered dash-space-dash scene breaks. :( ]

* * *

**Call Me  
**Note

Deserted and frigid. The overwhelming cleanliness of the complex was both intoxicating and disgusting, a drape upon the senses that nauseated. A lone sanded park in the center of the ring of tall white walls only emphasized The Islands' forlorn ivory. No one really liked this park very much - much less the kids that played there - considering that the Destiny Islands apartment complex demographic was mostly made of rich, sadistic bastards that never wanted to marry or have kids; the ones who did have kids were either divorced or in the process of. Many on the tenants had expressed their opposition to the park being built, protesting the uselessness of its creation, presenting many reasons for why it never should have come into being in the first place. Some said the structure was unnecessary because there were only a total of six children that lived in the complex. Others said it was out of place, that it didn't belong in the middle of the upscale life. A fountain would have suited the atmosphere more than some run-down park, they had said (but no one really wanted a fountain there either).

So what was the truth? The truth was in the eyes of every man and woman who had come to the owner of the building regarding the circular eyesore - the truth was about the money. With tenants like these, it was always about the money. Their quality of life would go down because a playground would repel the most high profile of potential inhabitants of Destiny Islands and significantly maim their potential of entering the city's high life.

The owner, however, stood his ground, saying that the playground was a haven for the children of these homes; children that needed a place to be kids. That was why the five feet tall blue monkey bars were facing the west division. That was why the two swing sets were staring down one another on the north and south ends of the circular playground. That was why the yellow plastic slide hung off to the left of the faux drawbridge. That was why there was a metal zebra, metal squirrel, and metal horse lined up on thin springs next to one another in the sand between the swings. And that was why some dumbass designer had decided that a mixture of murky white plastic and something like dead and dried original flavored bubble gum that bounced slightly (but wasn't quite so soft when you landed on it) was good for the southeast fourth of the playground floor padding.

Still, as much as the children hated the park, the owner of the joint was ironically correct: it was the kids' safe haven.

Especially now.

"Sora, it was gross," Roxas Esment complained, kicking his feet absentmindedly in the sand as his swing started to settle from its previous sky-high adventure three minutes before.

He cringed from the memory, wishing that it had never taken place. Who in their right mind would want to kiss a girl? The thought of his lips touching a girl's made him nearly puke his dinner (which was a poorly cooked hamburger that night) all over the park's rubber padding.

Girls. Disgusting. He didn't mind playing with them, but it annoyed him to watch his friends start to pick out their favorites. Why did they like girls so much? Girls were all slow and weak. They were easy to bruise and didn't last in a fight. They weren't good for anything but sitting and talking to... and even then, girls were boring and stupid.

"Roxas," the brunet sighed as he turned, intending to stare his younger brother in the eyes.

His younger twin wouldn't look at him, so the brunet reached out his tiny hands to the cold chains of the adjacent swing set. He caught the metal, pulling just enough to cause a new ripple of a swinging pattern for the black plastic seat. Roxas reluctantly allowed him to do so, eyes still lowered in a staring contest with the ground. He kicked his feet through the sand lightly, tracing his name in the sand with his bare toes, flip-flops having been shed and left by the surrounding concrete sidewalk. He hardly noticed his older brother get up from his seat until his name was suddenly erased from the sand and he felt hands on his shoulders. The hands forced him to look up and take in the sight of a pair of nearly identical blue eyes shining in the mock-streetlight of the complex. Trying his hardest to soothe Roxas, Sora spoke.

"There's nothing wrong with kissing girls. Besides, Naminé is really nice. You like her, don't you?" Sora murmured tentatively.

"No, I don't, Sora."

He was getting more annoyed with each passing syllable that wormed its way out of Sora's mind and lips. Although he loved his big brother, he sometimes wished that the boy had as much brains as he did have anti-gravity hair.

"But you're so nice to her..."

"I'm just being polite like daddy said to be. Girls are gross. We're eight and she's seven. It's just plain wrong. She's too young," he stated brusquely, never taking his eyes off his twin brother's. They stared at each other for a few moments before Sora lowered his gaze and let out an exasperated sigh.

"I thought you liked her," he admitted while letting go of his brother's shirt, now using his hands to play with the hem of his own, "Kairi thinks so too, so she wanted to help you out. Besides, Naminé really likes you-"

"Sora," Roxas cut him off, not wanting to hear any more of it. He didn't like hurting his older brother when he used harsh tones, but sometimes Sora was in desperate need of a bit of persistent shoving before he got a clue. Even then, he would most likely interpret the signals wrongly as rejection. Sora was just like that.

"Sorry..."

He looked down at his hands, unable to form any more words. It probably wasn't safe for them to sneak out of their room at ten at night to go play in the apartment complex's park. Then again, they weren't playing. Roxas just wanted to get out of the room that Kairi and Naminé were in.

_Why did they want to play truth-or-dare? That's a baby game. I don't play baby games. Seriously. We're in second grade now. I got over that ages ago._ _Anyways, Mom would have eaten us alive if she'd found out. Daddy would probably laugh at us and tell us that we were too old for that kind of thing. Truth-or-dare... it's stupid._

Nothing could really be as bad as having to kiss that girl again. In fact, Roxas never wanted to kiss another girl in his lifetime. He was better off on his own.

"So, Rox..." his brother's shy voice spoke out, the sound brushing out against the bars that surrounded the park.

"Yeah?"

Lights on the middle floor were shining too brightly. What were people doing up at this time of night? The Islands was normally silent at night, but there he was watching three figures in the drawn window curtain move about the room. One spiky silhouette caught his attention and he followed the movement with his eyes.

"Do you really think kissing girls is gross?" Sora interrupted. Roxas turned away from the window and stared directly at his sibling.

"Yes, Sora," he sighed, watching the brunet's shoulders slump in defeat, "I do."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

High-class life was never something teenage boys budding into adulthood should be experiencing – especially when it included alcohol. With the parties that were held on the eighth floor every Friday night for the young heirs of massive fortunes, alcohol was often found lying out in the middle of nowhere. Then the drunks would just let the kids have their way with the drinks.

The redhead stumbled out of the kitchen and collapsed on the floor of the living room portion of the apartment. The androgynous young silveret who followed after tripped on his sprawled figure, causing them both to laugh hysterically. The owner of the apartment had left his liquor cabinet open while he was away on a business trip, forgetting that his son was supposed to be staying at his place for the night. Without parental supervision, the young redhead had invited his two best friends over, and he and his silver-haired best friend raided the supply. Sober, the two were fifteen-year-old fucktards; drunk, the two were just plain fucked. Teens and alcohol didn't mix and this was a lesson that both Axel Flynn and Riku Gallagher were going to have to learn the hard way.

"Dude," Riku drawled, pinching Axel's cheek. His tanned, unmarked cheeks stretched absurdly, causing the silveret to laugh more.

"What," Axel chuckled back, throwing back his head in abysmally maniacal laughter.

The two collapsed upon each other, giggling like school children, each ingesting the last drops of their alcohol and throwing the cans onto the carpet. From the corner, a lilac-haired teen strode over and popped the cans into the recycle bin before resuming his date with his new book.

"You're drunk." The silveret slung his arm around his best friend.

"Well, you're drunk too," Axel retorted, fish lips puckered up in Riku's face. Riku belched and the two boys burst into roars of laughter.

The lights were dimmed, seeing as one bulb had burnt out a couple hours ago and no one felt like fixing it. Only the bright shine of the kitchen light lit the wide space, and under it Zexion was ready to castrate something.

"You two are morons."

From the back of the room, Zexion Corazza stood up and made a beeline straight for the door. There was no way he'd be able to read with his two friends absolutely punch drunk. For fuck's sake, they were only fifteen. They shouldn't even _be_ drunk in the first place.

"I'm leaving. You two can fend for yourselves."

"Aww... Zmexy, don't go! It's cold outside," Axel managed to slur out as he lifted himself on to his feet and stumbled over to his friend, wrapping an arm around the quiet boy's frame. He pressed his face under the swing of cobalt hair to the other boy's neck. The redhead dragged his tongue across the stoic teen's neck, a trail of alcohol-soaked saliva following in his wake. The teen wiped the spit off his skin and onto his pants with disgust.

"Axel," Zexion shoved the mass of red strands away from his neck, "I'm going to the park."

He huffed to the door and yanked the handle open, but being the frailest of the three best friends, Axel and Riku quickly overpowered his attempt by glomping him against the door and effectively trapped him against the wall. Zexion hated drunken glomping.

"Oh! Lemme go with you..." Axel smiled, his cheeks resembling a hamster's as he hugged onto the only sober soul in the room like a life raft.

"No, Axel," he glared sternly, "You guys will wake up the entire apartment complex."

"Na we won't!" Axel piped up, rocking back and forth unsteadily on his feet.

Zexion sighed and face-palmed with the only free hand he could muster from his side. With Axel glommed to his left arm, it was harder to raise his dominant hand in his usual action.

"Yes, you will."

"Me too! I wanna go," Riku whined, practically molesting his studious friend while trying to find his own balance.

"No means no, you brainless fools."

Zexion squirmed out of the redhead's iron hug and tried once more to go for the door handle. However, Axel decided that just at that moment, the space in front of the door would be the most comfy and convenient place to take a short break from standing. He grinned up at Zexion and started chanting the boy's nickname with an inhuman conviction.

"Zexy, Zexy, Zexy Zexy ZexyZexyzexy..."

Said boy screwed his eyes shut and held his hand to his forehead in annoyance. To make things worse, Axel started fluxing the pitch of his voice like a police siren while Riku moved his voice in the opposite direction, the both of them singing Zexion's nickname until it became just a sound rather than something a very pissy teenage boy would respond to when called.

"Good Lord! All right, you can come with! Just freaking' _shut up_ already!" He let out a feminine scream of frustration and yanked open the door, knocking Axel onto his back.

"Yay! I love you, Zmexy..." Riku giggled as he followed the teen down the hallway.

"Me too!" Axel shouted after them as he sprinted down the curved stretch of carpet.

Zexion hit the button for the elevator, ushering out the two boys before their voices added to the confined space of the apartment hallway gave him any more of a headache. He sighed. At least they were happy drunks.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The situation being more than a little bit scary, Roxas could tell Sora wanted to leave. He was shaking in his spot, nerves or something pumping through his heart. Three older boys exited one of the apartment building's sliding double glass doors. Two of them seemed to be unable to walk straight and the one lagging slightly behind held a book in his hands. One of them had white-ish silver hair, one had purple-y silver hair with long bangs, and the last one had hair in long strands that looked like liquid fire. He couldn't help but stare; it was so pretty. The tall one with the red hair and the shorter silveret were noisy and unsteady on their feet. Wind swept across the park, wafting the smell of alcohol to the two children's nostrils.

"R-Roxas, let's go. Please?"

Roxas got up from the swing and grabbed onto his brother's clammy hands. He led the brunet to the sidewalk and helped him dust the sand off his feet before he stuck his blue flip-flops back onto his brother's tiny feet.

"Sor, just get behind me and follow me, okay? If they try anything, I'll protect you. I promise."

He had to be brave for Sora. That's what brothers do. They protect their sibling. Since Demyx wasn't here with them, Roxas would have to do the job.

"Al... Alright Rox, but... b-but you better make sure y-you don't get hurt too."

"I promise not to get hurt either." The blond reached behind him and latched his hand to his younger brother's. "Let's go on three. We'll sneak past them and run back to the elevator, okay?"

"O-okay..." the small brunet agreed.

The hand that was grasping his tightened to the point where it actually caused pain. Roxas could feel Sora's unclipped nails biting into the back of his hand. He bit his lower lip and took the pain. He had to be strong for Sora.

"One."

The three silhouettes were getting closer, their voices escalating in volume. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut for a short second, opening them with a hint of a glare in his eyes.

"Two."

It was his job to protect his brother, and with that thought screaming in his head, he tightened his grip on Sora's hand, the sweat of their small palms mixing as they clutched to one another for dear life.

"Thr-"

Suddenly, Roxas's voice was cut off as the three boys stepped into the park's orange light. The one he'd seen with the hair like liquid fire turned around and grinned at him. Said redhead strolled over to the twin brothers and bent down to examine Roxas, his spiked hair bobbing slightly and brushing against Roxas's untidy blond hair. His face was close enough for the young, eight-year-old Roxas to almost get a buzz off the redhead's breath.

Roxas was familiar with the aroma he was inhaling because his mom reeked of it after she drank that weird-smelling, funny-colored stuff called beer when she got mad at him and Sora or Dad. He hated the way Mom treated him afterward, especially when she got slap-happy. Those nights were the worst and Roxas always wished that he could skip those dreadful hours he spent in bed and wake up to see daylight and a sober mother once more. Sometimes, it could be worse when she was hung over. Still, the drunken beatings were frequent enough to make Roxas sometimes wish he wasn't born. He took most of the hits because he had to protect Sora.

_Protect Sora._

He tried to step past the redhead, but the older boy moved and got in his way.

"Nuh-uh, cutie. You're not getting away that easily."

Roxas's eyes widened at the word. What did this boy just call him?

"M-move!" he tried, setting the expression on his face to maximum defiance.

Instead of moving like he was told, the older boy scooped up the blond into his arms and carried a stiff and stunned Roxas to the round, yellow slide nearest to their current position in the park. He plopped down onto the half-circle exit of the slide and settled Roxas into his lap and slid his arms around the boy and rested his head on the child's shoulder.

The blond, however, was curled up into a ball on Axel's lap, afraid for his life to move his legs out of fetal position. He clung to his legs and panicked eyes looked around for Sora. The brunet had gone into hiding behind one of the bushes and was going to be safe there. Roxas sent him an urging look only to receive a vigorous shaking of the head in protest. He sighed in defeat and slumped his shoulders. At least the silveret and purple-haired boy sitting on the park bench didn't seem to notice Sora or care that the little boy was now gone. They were watching their fiery friend on the slide instead.

"You're going to be hot in ten years..." he heard the boy whisper against his neck.

He involuntarily shivered. But it wasn't a bad shiver. It wasn't the gross kind he'd gotten when he kissed Naminé. This was a different shiver that left him with a slight grin and a flushing feeling in his chest afterward. Roxas decided he liked it.

"I-I am?" he asked, slapping a hand over his mouth as soon as the words left his lips.

"Yes," the teen breathed against his skin, "_so _hot."

Then he felt a pair of lips press to his neck and a warm feeling spread to his cheeks. He was blushing. The arm around him coaxed him into a more comfortable and normal (yet unconventional) sitting position in the redhead's lap. Boys were supposed to like girls, so what was with the way this boy was acting toward him?

_I don't get it._

He shifted slightly and heard the teen make a sound behind him against his neck. Moist breath heated his skin as he moved again and heard another one of the same sound come from the male behind him. Was he hurt?

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Shifting once more to turn his innocent boyish face to the teen behind him, he positioned himself on the slide so that he could face the boy without kicking him. He threw each of his legs to the sides of the redhead's hips and scooted himself forward until he was pressed against the older boy's torso.

"Yes..." the stranger breathed, biting his lip.

And then Roxas felt it. There was a hard bump poking up at his butt from the redhead's lap. He moved again and the redhead made that sound again. Roxas looked at him with naive curiosity and reached out his fingers to brush the bulge. The redhead made the sound again and pulled the blond closer to him. This time, Roxas didn't protest as the teen's arms encased his small body and instead he leaned forward and nuzzled into the redhead's chest.

"You're so cute you're almost edible."

He felt the teen move to kiss him again on the neck and bite down gently. A small gasp escaped his lips as a tingling sensation sprouted from the spot and filled him.

"Ah!"

He liked this feeling of being held. He liked the way the older boy was making him feel. It reminded him of those Warm Fuzzies that his teacher at school was talking about; the ones that you were supposed to feel when you were happy that you did a good thing for someone. He nestled into the flat chest more, his breath hitching as he felt the hand on his back begin to draw small circles into his shirt. The bump against his rear pressed against him more and he pushed himself down against it, getting another one of those sounds from the redhead. Roxas looked up at the redhead only to have another kiss planted on his forehead. It was all so different, but he wasn't afraid. In fact, Roxas liked this kind of different.

But just as he began to enjoy this new contact, he felt himself get pulled away by another set of hands grasping firmly on his sides. He tried to wriggle out of the unseen stranger's hands, but to no avail. What was the meaning of this? He liked the way the redhead was making him feel! Who took him away? Who?

"That's enough, Ax. You're drunk and we don't need you molesting tiny children."

Roxas watched as the redhead's shoulders slumped and he nodded dejectedly. Roxas struggled to get away from the boy that was holding him up in the air but to no avail. Instead, the purple-silver haired boy ignored his attempts to escape and began to question him.

"How old are you, kid?" the boy who had taken him off of the comfy lap interrogated.

"E-eight. I'm in second grade now!" he claimed triumphantly, glaring at the boy who was holding him off the ground.

A dismayed look crossed the lilac-haired teen's face and he groaned. He set the blond down on the ground and patted the boy on the head, sighing with defeat and a hint of shame. The teen turned to face his friend and smacked him upside the head.

"He's eight, Ax. _Eight_."

"Aww, fuck," the redhead mumbled, "Well… maybe if he…"

The redhead chewed his lip thoughtfully and suddenly pulled out a sharpie from his pocket. He grabbed at the book from the other boy's back pocket and flipped open to the bookmark some ways into the book. He pulled the note-card out and threw the book back at his friend. Roxas watched with a sort of fixed fascination as Axel quickly scrawled some words onto the thick paper and then folded it up. Roxas was pulled closer by his pants and the folded paper was slipped into his waistband, and secured there as it hung over the side of his thin red basketball shorts. The redhead planted a soft kiss on the corner of his lips and was pulled up angrily by his friend and forced to walk away.

"We're going back inside, douche."

The lilac-haired boy pulled the redhead by his drooping hair spikes and forcefully led the male back to the bench where the silveret was waiting.

Roxas watched the trio leave the park and go back into the building, standing unmoving until they had completely vanished from his sight.

"R-Roxas..."

A small hand grasped his own and he turned to see Sora crying. He patted his older brother's head comfortingly.

"Let's go home now, okay Sora? And don't tell Naminé or Kairi... or Mom or Dad. Don't tell anyone what happened."

Sora nodded and sniffed in sharply as a response, wiping his nose with the back of his hand and tightening his grip on his brother's hand. He didn't know what had made him force Sora to swear silence, but it felt appropriate for the situation. Roxas couldn't remember how he'd learned it, but he knew that no one was supposed to touch you or someone else in a private spot.

"Good. Let's go home."

And with that, the twins made their way back, hand in hand, to the elevator and rode it up to their apartment floor. When they'd gotten back in, Kairi and Naminé were already asleep on the floor along with their older brother, Demyx. Sora quickly crawled into bed and hid himself completely under the covers. Roxas, however, pulled the small square of white note card from his waistband and unfolded it.

**_Akuseru/Axel Flynn: (813)-686-8313  
_**_Here's my number. Call me in ten years, cutie.  
I'll be waiting. ;D_

Smiling, he folded the paper again and slipped it carefully into his pillowcase, snuggling into the plush comfort that now seemed more heavenly due to the new addition hidden in its fluff. Still, he'd find a better place for it in the morning; somewhere that Sora would never find it.

That night, Roxas had trouble falling sleep because of the fresh memories of being held, of feeling warm and wanted constantly replaying in his mind. And when he finally did fall asleep, all he could see was red.

* * *

Coffee smells surrounded him and enveloped his senses in a familiar blanket of chaotic calm. Outside on the street, teenagers ran around sporting the latest Jupiter of the Monkey and Tigre Punks designs while busy businessmen and women rushed around in their prissy suits with their cell phones held high against their ears. This section of the street seemed to hold fewer cars than the other major roads.

Axel sat at the WildKat Café, sipping his coffee as he watched the storeowner (his boss) chat with one of the regulars and a co-worker at the counter. He chuckled when he saw orange-haired Neku blush and shove the gray-haired, prissy-looking waiter boy Joshua sitting beside him gently. Joshua pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Neku blushing. Axel could've sworn he'd heard the word 'blackmail' somewhere in the short, snappy dialogue that followed.

_Watch. They're gonna end up together soon._

"You shouldn't stare, even if your shift is over with for today."

He laughed and turned to the boy beside him on the couch who was flipping yet another page in the book he was currently buried in.

"Whatever, Zexy," he chuckled.

Riku returned with a muffin and settled into the middle of the plush red couch. Axel leaned over and pinched off the top of a chocolate chip sticking out of the muffin and popped it in his mouth. The silveret did nothing to stop him, so Axel simply turned and continued to stare at the soon-to-be couple sitting at the counter.

Neku crossed his arms and turned away from his silver-haired friend sitting beside him. Still, Joshua didn't appear to be the least bit phased and simply giggled, calling the boy 'Nekky' with an amused smile plastered across his face. Hanekoma let out a joyous laugh and threw two work uniforms at the pair.

"Reminds me of him."

"What?"

Axel turned back to face his two friends. The voice had obviously been Zexion's, but the man didn't bother even looking up as he spoke. Not that Axel really expected him to. Zexion never expressed enough interest in people to really make eye contact with any of them.

"That kid with the orange hair. Reminds me of that boy you practically molested in the park eight years ago." The look on Axel's face told Zexion that he didn't remember. "We were sophomores in high school," he clarified.

After a moment of remembrance, the redhead rolled his eyes and laughed. "The past is the past, Zex. Just forget about it." He stretched his arms upward and sank contentedly into the couch. Slinging his arms across the back of the sofa, he leaned his head to the right so that it rested on Riku's shoulder. The silveret turned and head butted him lightly.

"What if that kid didn't forget?" he teased. "What if he calls you in ten years just like how you said to on the note?"

"Psh..." he laughed, taking another sip of his coffee and a bite of Riku's muffin, "that would _never_happen."

"Yeah, maybe, but you probably turned the kid gay at least," Riku joked.

"Well," Zexion added, "either that or you left him to suffer from permanent psychological trauma. My best guess would be the trust and physical contact issues."

Axel kicked his legs up on the table in front of him, settling his boots right beside his cup of coffee. From across the café, Mr. Hanekoma glared at him. Fearing for his reproductive organs, he set his feet back down on the floor.

"Hahaha," Axel managed to laugh as he turned away from his boss's death glare. "Very funny, guys." Sarcasm dripped from every breath of the sentence as he reached an arm over and ruffled Riku's hair. "You two are morons." He sighed a laugh and turned back to the counter he'd been watching earlier. Orange-haired kid and prissy boy were gone.

_Probably off making out now in the janitor's closet,_ he chuckled.

"Anyways," Riku stretched back, "We're going shopping at 104 later, right? I need to pick up new jeans."

"Riku, you don't _need_ new jeans. No one has that many clothes, no matter how flamboyantly homosexual they are."

Zexion smirked and shook his head in mild disapproval at Axel's words, flipping another page in his book and settling into the comforts of their usual red couch.

WildKat Café had some of the greatest ambiance Axel ever had the pleasure to be immersed in. Vibrantly bold colors were selected as an interior décor theme along with art by the famed graffiti master CAT placed all over the modern coffee shop. Currently, Riku was holding a summery yellow in his arms while Zexion had an orange square pillow stuffed behind his back for better posture support. Across the Café was a sapphire blue couch decorated with green and purple round pillows that matched their current seat. Two fake plants stood by the front entrance of WildKat Café, basking deceptively in the shine of the light that came through the glass of two walls that created the large rectangular area.

The name of the establishment only seemed to emphasize its constant trendiness. WildKat Café on Cat Street with art by CAT inside. How much better (or worse?) could it get?

Suddenly, Axel felt a buzzing against his leg. He ignored it at first, figuring that it was Riku's phone, but soon realized he'd been mistaken when the silveret's ring tone failed to play.

"Hey, Axel, your ghetto phone is vibrating," Zexion smirked up at him.

"What if it's _him_," Riku joked as he nudged the redhead's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, "Riku, you just crack me up."

He dug for the phone in his pocket and fished it out. He hadn't changed phones for a couple years, actually. It was more of a convenience thing that he'd also kept his SIM card.

"Yo, talk to me."

There was a huge heap of screaming coming from the other end. Amidst the chaos, he picked out one bright voice alone with another rather moody, brooding one. So there were two callers?

_What the hell?_

"Hello?" he tried again, cocking his head to the right, confused.

_"Sora, I don't want to do this!"_

"Hello?" he tried a second time.

_"Sora, you imbecile!"_ the voice yelled at the source of the laughter on the other end, _"Did you think I was just going to call this 'Akuseru' guy and it would magically solve all my problems?"_

He winced at the sound of his birth name, but decided not to blow up on this guy like he normally did with people who made the mistake of referring to him as 'Akuseru'. Whoever it was on the other end sounded like he was ready to kill someone as it was. No need to fuel this fire. The reason for the hysteria was lost on Axel; only God knows why he'd be so bitchy. Although he attempted to, Axel didn't recognize this voice. Even at most, the redhead could only tell that it was male and younger than he was.

"Axel," he corrected, annoyed and ignored, "That's me."

A gasp came from the other end of the line followed by another set of angry yells.

_"It's really him! Now look at what you've done, you idiot!"_

He heard a badly muffled guffaw of reply from the other end and the crash of a phone dropping. So there were two people on the phone with him, one of which was yelling and the other was laughing his ass off? Great. He would guess that this was a prank call, but they had his full name and seemed to be arguing with each other more than they were trying to prank him.

"May I ask who is calling?" There were the sounds of an epic struggle on the other line before he got an answer. The sound of heavy breathing on the other end assailed his eardrum, and he jerked the phone away from beside his head. "Dude, seriously, stop breathing into the phone."

Suddenly, there was a slam from the other end and he heard a hushed voice rush a jumble of explanatory words by him.

_"Hi, my name's Sora and I'm Roxas's brother. That kid from the park about eight years ago? Yeah, well, uhm, I'm his twin! He's too much of a sissy chicken to tell you himself, so I... wait. Hello? Err... whatever, I'm sure you're there and listening, unless the phone status thingy is lying to me and you've actually just set this phone on a table and you don't have me on speaker - wait, am I on speaker? Does that mean you can hear me? Okay, well, whatever because my point is that you should go out with my little brother!"_

The last few words were shouted a trifle more loudly than the previous ones, causing Riku to look up from his muffin in curiosity. Zexion followed suit and stared.

"What?"

No, that wasn't his inability to listen to rushing words from the speakers. That was disbelief. Apparently, whoever was on the other end didn't pick up on that very well, because instead, the male began repeating himself.

_"What I meant to say is that Roxas is the boy from the park in The Islands eight years ago that you gave your number to-" _Here there was a succession of more unnaturally high-pitched screaming and door pounding, causing whoever it was (Sora, if he'd heard correctly) to rush the last part of his statement at the top of his lungs,_ "- and Roxas would be **dying **to go out on a date with you! What do you say? Accept?"_

The words rang out from the small speaker of his phone. Riku stared at it with a more than disbelieving expression on his face that was borderline hysteria. From the phone came the sounds of a crash and a squeal, following by the heavy pounding and panted breathing of a teenage boy running up the stairs. Yells echoed in the background and there was another yelp and a crash. It was at that moment when the horror sank in. For once, Zexion actually raised his head from his book to look at his best friend. Later, he would come to rejoice in the fact that he had, for the look upon Axel's face was blackmail material in its purest form.

Stunned, the apparatus promptly slid out of Axel's hand fell to the floor, folding shut and hanging up effectively on the callers. The redhead looked up at his two best friends in disbelief, his jaw dropped open as they began to laugh until they had difficulty breathing.

"What the _hell _was that!"

* * *

**Alright, so two things:**

- The aforementioned rubber padding. Seriously. We have some of that stuff in the park by my house and it's ridiculous. I can't believe the developers even thought that stuff could cushion falls.  
- I am NOT about to write about an eight-year-old engaging in explicit activities. Seriously. Shame to those of you who expected it! As for why Axel was even aroused in the first place... well, that could be explained by the fact that he was imagining an older version of Roxas. XD

**EDIT:** This story has been Beta'd by the lovely **Aindel S. Druida**. She rocks amazingly and is pretty much the best person I've ever had look over my work. May the epicness continue well into the night! :3

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	2. Stationside

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.

**EDIT:** I want to thank Aindel S. Druida for Beta-ing this chapter for me. Without you, I would be cringing from this every time I thought about it! :)

* * *

**Call Me  
**Stationside

Axel stared dumbfounded as Riku picked up his phone and a wide, sadistic grin spread over his face. The man quickly stuffed the device into his pocket and jumped up off the couch. Zexion put down his book and sat there, legs crossed and head resting on his propped up arm, ready to enjoy the show.

"Was that who I think it was?" When Axel didn't answer his question, the silveret chuckled wickedly and licked his lips. Axel blanched, his facial tattoos contrasting strikingly against his paled face as his lips parted in shock with a small pop. Riku was entering devilish mode.

"No? Yes? W-who do you think it was?"

Axel feigned naivety, fruitlessly trying to talk his way out of Riku's interrogation. Of course (with Riku being Riku), he couldn't. No matter how smooth he was with words, the redhead was no match for his silver-haired best friend.

"Zexy, restrain him." Without waiting for confirmation of his order being followed, Riku rushed out of the Café and out onto the street where he promptly ducked into the nearest Jupiter of the Monkey store for a nice, away-from-Axel conversation with the redhead's future husband. He entered the blue and orange themed store and was instantly hit by its signature slightly spicy smell.

Riku flipped open the ghetto phone and scrolled through Axel's recent calls. "There we go," he murmured as he found the new, unlabeled number in Axel's cell. He took the liberty to copy it down in his own phone and label it before he hit the dial button. After a short two rings, a bright, cheery voice picked up on the other end.

_"Axeeeeeeel… you shouldn't hang up on people like thaaat!"_

"No, no," Riku chuckled, "you've got it all wrong. Axel dropped his phone in shock and you're now talking to his piece of hot ass best friend, Riku."

His remark was met with an enthusiastic laugh. Somewhere in the background he could hear the sound of a creaky swing rhythmically squeaking back and forth.

_" 'Piece of hot ass' huh?"_ the voice laughed, _"Well then, hot ass, my name's Sora - like the sky, ya know? - but you can call me __'angel.'__ How are you?"_

"I'm doing all right, my little angel… How 'bout you?" He felt his grin widen and begin to fissure when he heard the other boy chuckle good-naturedly into the phone. Sora had a nice voice; it was the kind that Riku could listen to for hours on end if he needed to. Plus, he had a sense of humor. Riku could _never_ turn down a sense of humor.

_"Mmm… I'm trying to get Akuseru and Roxas to go on a date. You'll help me won't you? You have to!"_

"Sure," he complied wholeheartedly, "but don't let him hear you use his birth name. Axel would probably castrate you for that if he ever met you."

"Who is it that I'm castrating?"

Riku stopped and turned around to see the mentioned redhead with his arms crossed, glare burning within his eyes. He smiled unevenly and could feel the crease in his forehead bunch together lightly. With what he hoped was a surreptitious step backward, the silveret leaned away from his best friend and attempted to make a mad dash for his life.

That, however, was met with failure as the taller man grabbed onto his collar and shoved him roughly against the wall with his right arm. Riku meeped.

"Err… I'll text you my number, angel. Gotta go!"

That was met by another laugh from Sora's end of the line.

"Bye, then. Text soon, okay?"

"Will do," he rushed as Axel's fist pummeled into the wall beside his face.

Riku was only able to snap the phone shut before the electronic device was snatched away from his fingertips by nimble, scarred fingers. Biting his lip, Riku turned around and looked up at the fuming Axel behind him. An unreadable expression was on the other male's face (a mix between embarrassment, shock, and murder) that made Riku's spine squeeze and fold in on itself.

"I thought you were going to restrain him."

Zexion sighed and tossed Riku an apologetic glance before his eyes returned to the bound pages he cradled in his arms. "He threatened to either eat or burn my book. You and I both know it's not below him to do such a thing." As he spoke those words Zexion subconsciously patted his book. Riku forced his eyes to focus on a spot on the wall to stifle a giggle.

Axel smirked and turned his attention back to Riku, chuckling evilly, "And neither is castrating a certain silver-haired ho over here."

"Ouch," Riku winced. "That's a low blow, Ax."

"Yeah, yeah. Just shut up," the redhead grumbled.

"… And bend over?" Riku laughed.

He instantly clapped a hand over his face. Damn, talking to that Sora-angel kid made him feel all giddy inside. He flinched, as Axel's fist was ready to pummel into him again. His lilac-haired friend, however, saved his skin… by risking his own.

"I bet this Roxas kid would bend over for you," Zexion added, straight-faced. That was the thing about Zexion: no matter how serious he might seem, no matter how straight-edged or asexual - by hanging out with Axel and Riku for a good portion of his life, he'd inadvertently picked up and mastered the art of blink-and-you-might-miss-it humor.

Regardless of the way they were acting, the two of them thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they poked and prodded at their red-haired best friend. Of course, Riku only meeped more often as he had to dodge a punch aimed for his face. Zexion blinked a few times rapidly in succession when Axel threatened to burn his video collection along with his library. After a few more minutes of loud arguing (on Axel and Riku's part, not Zexion's) the trio was kicked out of the J of the M establishment and forced to sit on the sidewalk. Axel sighed disdainfully and crossed his arms, not wanting to return to WildKat Café after the entire ordeal.

"Movie?" Riku suggested after a few minutes of silence.

"… Yeah. Movie," Zexion agreed.

"But nothing foreign," Axel interrupted, receiving a curt nod followed by an eye roll in response. With that, the three best friends got up and headed off in the direction opposite the WildKat Café.

Down the busy streets of Shibuya, the stifling crowds only parted slightly for the crazy-haired trio until they passed Miyashita Park and reached Cadoi City. All the while, Riku fumbled with the cell phone in his pocket. Thank God Axel hadn't checked it.

"Hey, guys," he piped up once they reached the theater, "I don't think I've got time enough for a movie. I'm sorry to bail on you at the last minute and all, but it would last too long and I have to get to the library soon."

"I don't see _why_ you have to go to the library all the time. You're out of high school now so you don't need the volunteer hours. And it's the freaking library at our old high school. Don't the parents ever get freaked out that a college kid is working the kids' section? All those germs…"

"It's nostalgia." He shrugged. "Plus, it's close to the college and helps build my immune system."

Axel wrinkled his nose at the thought while Zexion smiled. "But… _books_?"

"What's wrong with taking care of books, Axel?" Zexion glared accusingly.

"Uhh… nothing, Zexy, nothing…" He subconsciously moved a hand down to protect his groin. Who knew what Zexion could do when he was mad.

"Next in line, please?" the annoyed teen behind the glass called. "Seriously, are you guys going to get over here or are you going to argue all day?"

The trio stepped out of the line when two people from the group behind them added to the scene by loudly clearing their throats.

"Sorry," the three replied in scattered unison.

"Whatever. Just go. We'll catch ya later, Kuu," the redhead called as the shorter boy started walking backward away from the two.

"Later, Riku," Zexion followed suit, except with a meaningful glint in his eye that told the silveret that his best friend knew what he was planning to do.

"All right. See ya."

He walked away at a medium pace, turning around once to see his two friends enter the line once more and begin an argument on the importance of libraries.

Riku walked out onto the street, waiting at the crosswalk among the other pedestrians. People never cleared his path when he walked alone. Although some people tried hard to stare at his silver hair without being caught, they were never able to go by unnoticed.

About ten minutes passed before he reached Scramble Crossing - the meeting place of four main bustling roads and the location of 104. Working his way south, the silveret made it to the West Exit Bus Terminal and took his ritual train ride to his old high school in Hallow Bastion.

_Hey, this is Piece of Hot Ass. I guess this is proof that I've got your number. Text me back?_

Riku hoped the message would get through. Although he wouldn't mind listening to the other boy's cheerful voice again, the library simply wouldn't permit it.

The library at his old high school was more complicated than it should have been. Where other high school libraries were only open on weekdays during school hours, Hallow Bastion High (home of The Beasts), had a rather large campus and opened its library to the public even on weekends. If it wasn't bad enough that they were already open to eight pm on every other weekday and six pm on the remaining days, the library decided to throw everyone off by closing at three in the afternoon on Saturdays and exactly at noon on Sundays. Most ordinary peoples' reactions to the awkward schedule would be to sit on the train home, fuming silently.

(It was how Riku had coped with showing up at the library to volunteer when it was either closed or not yet open.)

He turned his attention back to the shelf he was tidying. Hopefully there wouldn't be any kids coming by today while he was in. He tried not to be here on weekends,,, but sometimes that was all his schedule would allow.

Suddenly the phone vibrated in his pocket, the sound of it causing a few heads to perk up and turn his way with a glare. Was it his fault that his phone vibrated loudly? He shuffled the electronic device out and hit the volume button on the side to still the phone. Luckily, the caller – labeled 'Angel' – didn't persist for too long. Instead, the phone's screen flashed once and buzzed briefly. Riku slid open the phone and read the message.

_Pick up, please?_

He smiled. The kid knew how to use grammar, thank the gods.

_Can't. At the library._

Behind him, he could feel the burning gaze of the school's security guard tearing a hole in the back of his head. Death by visualization?

_Library. Why?_

Phone in one hand, Riku organized the books and lined up their spines along the shelves. He'd do inventory later.

_I volunteer at my old high school's library. Nostalgia._

_Oh. That's cool. :) So anyway - Akuseru and Roxas?_

Riku pulled his cell from his pocket and held it with both hands as he kneeled in front of the third shelf he'd worked on since he arrived at the library for the day's volunteer work. The security guard glared at him yet again. He turned around and winked at the man and could see the discomfort color the guard's face as he turned away, muttering to himself.

_He's gonna kill you if you call him that to his face,_ he wrote, laughing.

_Hah. You'll protect me, won't you?_

"Looks like I'm a glutton for punishment," he chuckled softly.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Riku stopped organizing the books and sat down on the floor in front of a shelf. This was going to be fun.

"Who are you texting?" Roxas yawned, stretching out his limbs over his checkered bed sheets.

He'd gone outside the apartment to go after Sora only to find him swinging on _that_ swing set alone, a happy grin on his face. Even though Roxas had cooled down a bit more since the Axel incident and gotten his phone back, he'd deleted the twenty-three-year-old's number from his brother's cell along with all the incoming and outgoing call history logs twice just to make sure.

Sora lay on the bed next to him, rolling around like a hyperactive monkey with every little buzz his phone made, excitedly punching in responses.

"Seriously, Sora, you're acting like a schoolgirl. What the hell?"

His brother turned and grinned to him, perfect white teeth shining.

"It's Kairi."

Sora giggled again when he opened up his next text message. Seriously, Kairi wasn't _that_ funny. She wasn't even **_fun_**. Sure, the girl was the sweetest thing he'd ever met (other than Naminé, but no one says that without getting mysteriously shot in the middle of the night), but seriously, Kairi just wasn't… fun.

"Liar," he countered snippily. Sora's grin only widened and spread further up his eyes.

"Haha. It's a S-E-C-R-E-T!"

Before he could continue his taunting, Roxas snatched the phone away from his brunet brother's hands and scrambled along the semi-wide, railed pathway between their two half-stories to Sora's side of the room that was by the door.

" 'Hot Ass'?" Roxas read aloud slowly, obviously confused. "You're texting 'Hot Ass'?"

Sora quickly stole his phone back before Roxas could read any of the messages.

"Yeah, I'm texting someone's hot ass. You wanna join?"

"No thanks," his brother responded, holding both his hands up in a 'stop' gesture. "I might like ass, but I'm not into texting asses directly without the involvement of the face or hands: Especially if the asses are heated ones."

The two laughed together and Roxas decided not to press on further. Besides, all of Sora's contacts were listed under crazy names; Kairi was 'Beach Bitch' while Naminé was 'I Eat Crayons' and he was 'Chocobo Face'. In fact, Demyx, their older brother, was under 'Sitar BAWLS' – it was ridiculous. That's why finding Akuseru Flynn's number was so easy; he only had to look until he found 'Roxas's Fiancé'. Of course, that was also why trying to figure out who was who was a nightmare, so most times, he just gave up.

Admittedly, his life was full of craziness. It all seemed to happen since that night eight years ago, a week before his birthday. Regardless, he and Sora were going to be seventeen this weekend, which meant they were one more year away from being legal.

_Being legal._

His mind wandered back to that night in the park outside his window when that gorgeous redhead (if Roxas's futile memory did the man even half the amount of justice it deserved) had slipped him atop his lap and given Roxas his number. That Akuseru guy…

Okay, he'd admit it: Akuseru turned him decidedly gay when he was an elementary schooler. Whatever. It was a blessing, really, that it had happened because he'd spent the last three years in high school turning down so many girls for both him and Sora that he was ready to pretty much explode from the oppressive estrogen overload. Beating the X chromosomes off with a half-assed stick got tiring sometimes.

Somehow, it would all work out, because that's how Roxas's life had always been – things just always worked out.

"You free Saturday, Rox?"

Sora turned to him from across the gap of the half story, his bright sapphire eyes giggling. Roxas hesitated.

"Yeah, of course. Why? It's our birthday…"

"Wanna go see a movie with me? No Naminé or Kairi…" Sora stretched out Kairi's name into a song, changing his tone as if he were calling a little puppy-Roxas to come closer to him.

What was this? Usually Roxas was the one to be initiating their hang out activities. Even though most people assumed that Sora was the social one of the two that dragged Roxas out of the house, it was really the blond who did the dragging. Sora was just too easily pushed around to even bother asking for much anymore, but he only trusted his closest childhood friends to do the pushing, so he was always in good hands.

This time, though, was an anomaly. Roxas's voice caught in his throat as he nearly chocked on a half-breath he was taking in.

"Are you asking me out?" he coughed, trying to laugh and not laugh, breathe and not breathe at the same time.

"Yes," his brother replied.

Roxas looked up at his twin, the straight tone of his voice scaring the blond a little until he spotted the faux seriousness in Sora's eyes. After a few minutes of awkward silence, the two shared another laugh and Roxas shuffled his way across the "bridge" over their desk to the other bed.

"You're an idiot, but sure, I'll go out with you," he joked back. "What movie do you wanna see?"

Sora crawled over beside Roxas and lay down on his stomach, facing the wall. He quickly grew tired of the view and rolled over and crisscrossed his body over Roxas's torso to watch the sight outside his window.

"Whatever you want to see. It's been forever since we've been to a nice theater."

"Let's just decide when we get there." Roxas grinned and laid down, folding his arms behind his head. "The shit theater we've got near The Islands won't do though… "

"Then how about at the AMX in Shibuya?" the brunet suggested.

"Sure. We haven't been there in forever. We should shop while we're at it, because I wanna stop at Lapin and pick up new wristbands. You'll bug dad for money, right?"

"Alright," Sora grinned, strangely compliant. "Let's dress well though, cuz, seriously, it's Shibuya – the capitol of trends – and I don't wanna get killed by angry mobs of fashion whores."

Roxas laughed and poked his brother in the side, causing the brunet to roll over onto Roxas's knees.

"What do you wanna do after that?"

"I was thinking maybe going down to Molco and prank calling people from that phone booth of love or whatever."

"Sounds fun," he laughed. "It's a date!"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Fuck yes," Riku breathed, stretching his arms upward and laughing good naturedly. "It's Saturday!"

He turned to the boy beside him and pulled him to his feet. Axel grumbled as they joined the throng of bustling, noisy weekend crowds as they made their way off the bench and into the general hustling mess sea of human bodies.

"Hurry up off the station bench, Ax. I wanna go see that movie."

With a groan, Axel was yanked off the stiff bench and onto his feet. Unable to get away from Riku (for the silveret had stolen all his lighters and threatened to toss his babies), he begrudgingly complied, and glared at Riku when his stomach began growling loudly.

"I wanna eat," he complained to the silveret. "You mean Zexy's movie last week? It wasn't really even that great anyway… You should've just ditched the library for once and hung out with us."

He was dragged amongst the pedestrians until the pair passed to the Shibukyu Stationside Strip. Suddenly, the redhead stopped walking and sat down on a nearby empty bench beside Hachiko, the famous dog statue of the Stationside Square. The two stayed in their places, their eyes tracing over the tops of the heads of the passers-by.

"I'm not moving," the redhead huffed, "not until I have something for my stomach. Seriously, I didn't even get to have breakfast because you and Zexy ate it all!"

"Your fault for waking up late," Riku sighed, tapping his foot impatiently as Axel grumbled again. "Oh, quit your complaining. You're coming with me and that's final."

To the silveret's dismay, Axel suddenly decided to re-grow his backbone.

"No, not until we get something to eat!"

The redhead crossed his arms, smirking. He knew he had flipped the table and was gaining the upper hand. Riku sighed again while his arms mirrored Axel's.

"We'll find something to eat when we get there. There's always the concession stand."

"Yeah," Axel rolled his eyes, taking out his pack of cigarettes and tapping one out of the box, "like popcorn covered in fat's gonna solve world hunger."

"It's better then nothing," Riku retorted.

Axel fell silent and Riku gave up, settling for sitting down on the bench beside the other male. With an overly dramatic sigh, the redhead collapsed sideways so that his body was leaning against Riku's, their hair colors and textures clashing in an almost fitting way. Riku pulled out his phone from his pocket to check the time. With an hour left before noon, he grinned to himself and began to assemble a short message to the boy he'd come to know as 'angel'.

_Where are you?_

Two minutes after he slipped the phone back into his pocket, the device buzzed and he flipped open his phone to read the response.

_Waiting by Hachiko with Roxy. Wearing Midnight Thoughts tank from Dragon Couture and Natural Puppy black Jeans. You?_

The silveret looked up from his phone to see a spiky-haired brunet talking excitedly with a gently smiling blond. A double lifting of the corners of his lips lit his face as he watched the boy reach a slim arm up to ruffle the back of his own unruly milk chocolate hair. With the angel identified, he turned to reply to the text.

_I'm the silver-haired guy wearing the purple-lined Lapin Angelique Shirt and Arm Warmers top that's staring at you._

The message was successfully sent just as Axel began bumping him repeatedly in the shoulder. He ignored the movements and locked his eyes on the brunet thirty feet away from him, fingering the edge of his shirt idly as he studied Sora from across the paws of Hachiko's statue. After watching Sora gaze back and forth across where Riku sat, the college student purposefully locked eyes with the teen and smiled. Sora's eyes lit up in recognition and he grinned back, seductively running his tongue over his teeth and winking at Riku.

Buzzing from his phone shook through his pocket and the silveret flipped open his phone to read the new message.

_Not too bad, even if you **are** wearing gothic Lapin items… Roxas shops there, ya know?_

Yeah, he'd definitely found the right guy.

The silveret looked up and smiled at the brunet again, their eyes making contact across the front of the stone dog statue between them. This time, the pair burst into a mild case of giggle fits until their respective accompaniments began staring at the two of them as if they'd grown bananas out their foreheads. However, before Riku lost control of his laughing, he was interrupted by Axel's incredulous voice filled with an undertone of unfiltered want.

"Woah…" he breathed out, a stream cigarette smoke accentuating his words, "Check out that kid."

"Axel, you're drooling."

Riku chuckled as Axel blinked rapidly and wiped a bit of saliva off the corner of his mouth. On the other side of Hachiko, the dog statue, the twins stood up. Following Axel's gaze, the shorter male was able to pinpoint it to a blond with fluffy golden spikes of hair and enough black, white, and red checkered decoration to be a pyrophillic chessboard. Sora glanced at Riku and smiled.

"Do you think he's legal?" Axel whispered, hiding behind his silver-haired best friend. Riku coughed into his fist and Axel moved back out again, sucking air through the end of the cancer stick dangling between his lips.

"Dare you to ask." Riku replied, the grin on his face remaining unseen.

"Definitely."

Axel practically sprouted up out of the ground, tossing his cigarette to the floor and stomping it flat, and sauntered over to the pair like he _knew_ he was hot stuff. That man could flaunt a potato sack once and get more offers from smokin' fine ass in two hours than a male strip club dancer saw in a year. Not that he had ever _tried_ it.

Confidence pouring from every pore of the visible and invisible portions of Axel's body, the redhead stopped walking and smiled warmly down to the short brothers.

"Hey there, _cutie_," the redhead grinned at the blond. "My name's Axel Flynn. Yours?"

Before the blond twin could respond, Sora interrupted him and spoke.

"Yeah, I know. You're Akuseru Flynn, age twenty-two and a senior at Radiant Garden University, majoring in Chemistry. And, if I'm remembering correctly, you _should_ be long done with your undergrad work, but you had to take time off to save up enough for college."

Riku almost felt sorry when he saw the look on Axel's face. Maybe he'd told Sora too much...

"Huh?"

Sora propped his arms up behind the back of his head and flashed the dumbfounded Axel a lopsided grin before continuing. "Also, you work at the WildKat Café on Cat Street and you're a interested in pyrotechnics and explosions… and blond boys named Roxas, like my brother here."

Riku chuckled as a stricken, panicked look overcame both Roxas's and Axel's features, fending off little guilt demons that had attempted building a nest in his gut. No, there was no way he'd be feeling bad about doing this; it was for Axel's own good, after all.

"And that smirking silver-haired guy next to you is your 'Piece of Hot Ass Best Friend,' " the boy finished, laughing.

"… A-Axel?" the blond breathed in disbelief, obviously not trusting his vocal chords to carry the words through the air for him.

A silence fell between them as the two newly introduced males stared at each other with alarmed interest. Riku couldn't help but notice that the pyro had his eyes glued to the spot where the base of the blond's neck met his shoulders – it was an everlasting weakness and eternal turn-on spot for the redhead and judging by the glint in Axel's eyes, Roxas's body was definitely passing inspection.

Turning his attention to things more 'his taste', Riku stepped away from Axel's side and toward Sora. "Hey there, Angel. Happy Birthday," Riku greeted him and ruffled the other boy's hair with his right hand.

"Thanks," Sora grinned, swatting at the hand assaulting his hair while Roxas nodded uncertainly toward Riku's general direction, his eyes avoiding all contact in all ways possible with Axel.

He's seen this kind of behavior before. Most people did react that way whenever Axel was wearing any part of the good half of his wardrobe. A studded silver belt, a dressy Gatito shirt he'd ordered online, and straight black pants falling nicely along his favorite pair of shoes. However, Axel had modified his clothing so that the pants were a bit more ripped up and ended up showing off the paler skin of his thighs quite nicely.

Getting bored with the shocked couple, Riku reached over and patted Sora on the head.

"Good Puppy," he chuckled. "You fetched properly."

"Hey!" The brunet swatted the older male's hands away from his head and play-pouted. "I said no touchy."

The more familiar pair stepped off to the side to watch Axel and Roxas interact… or not. Still with the elongated silence, Riku couldn't help but notice how good looking the quieter blond twin really was. Man, Axel sure did know how to pick them when he was drunk and fifteen.

Just as he was about to scrutinize Axel and Roxas's reactions some more, Sora interrupted. "And this, my friends, is what Demyx would so lovingly call an over-extended fermata. You're lucky he's not here with you or he'd bash your face in with his guitar – because his sitar is too precious to even touch the floor… literally."

Riku chuckled at the hushed statement and turned to face the awkwardly silent Axel.

"Now, let's go see that movie."

With unmatched enthusiasm, Sora skipped off toward the general direction of the AMX theater, babbling excitedly to Riku about anything and everything along the way.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"So you're Roxas," the blond heard murmured as they walked along Scramble Crossing.

"And you're Axel," he spat back.

"Woah, woah, there." Axel stopped. "No need to be so touchy. Can we just talk?"

Roxas sighed, pushing his hands exasperatedly through his hair. "Sorry, I'm not usually this pissy._(A lie.)_ I just didn't expect Sora to do this, ya know? (_Another lie.) _I might be a it off beat today. (_So many lies…)"_

It was a nice sound, Axel's chuckle. A little part of his mind whispered that it wouldn't mind hearing that sound all the time, but he shoved it away angrily for the sake of his sanity.

"Yeah, I didn't expect Riku to – shit, who am I kidding? This is just like Riku to pull something like this!"

Roxas couldn't help but laugh along with the older man as they led the way for the more excited pair behind them who were no doubt pointing and giggling at the two of them. "Well, I guess I lied a little too," he confessed, "because Sora's never predictable. What I meant to say is that I never expected this to happen again. Meeting you, that is…"

"Yeah?" Axel asked, turning his face to meet Roxas's.

"Yeah." He blushed.

The two fell into a natural silence. Even though it wasn't very awkward, it didn't stop Roxas from noticing even the tiny features about the redhead from the corner of his eye.

First of all, he had musician's fingers. He didn't know what kind of instrument the older male would play, but experience enough with Demyx told him that it was probably some sort of woodwind instrument or perhaps the piano. Those long, slim fingers tapped against Axel's leg constantly as if keeping some sort of beat as the older man walked. After counting for a few seconds, Roxas could tell that the beat would change and assumed that the redhead just had a personal jukebox constantly playing in his head.

Next were those _hips_. If he'd thought only girls could have such slim (and supposedly alluring) figures, boy was he wrong. Axel must have been just as thin as he was around the waist, maybe even thinner. The low-riding black jeans definitely worked on his body.

After staring down Axel's legs, Roxas noticed the shoes. As nice as Axel was dressed, the shoes he had on were an old pair of high top red converse with flames drawn up the ankle in fading black and orange sharpie. Roxas suspected the decoration had something to do with the ring of three mini sharpies that were hanging from the redhead's belt loop. Even though Axel dressed nicely, there was no doubt that he wore the shoes for their comfort and not the look, regardless of how good they looked on him.

What really caught his attention were the tattoos under the redhead's eyes. Casting his gaze past the man's torso and chest, past the smooth and exposed pale neck and the slim jaw, Roxas's eyes rested on the redhead's cheekbones. Geometric, black, reverse tears pointed symmetrically to the beautiful man's clear green eyes. There was something undeniably sexy about the man braving a needle on his face and getting such simple and expressive body art placed on such a prominent part of his body.

He allowed himself one happy shiver before straightening out his face again to its usual stoic mask.

Roxas wouldn't lie to himself; he'd been thinking about Akuseru – Axel – a lot lately. Although it had already been eight years, two weeks, and four days (not that he had been counting…) since the park incident at The Islands' apartment complex, his mind had always been filled with Akuseru. That slip of paper he'd had was kept in a treasure box he kept between his bed and the wall along with a few other things like his first baby tooth and Sora's first drawing of a paopu he'd done for the two of them.

It was only by misfortune that Sora had even found the darn thing. God, Roxas hated Spring Cleaning.

When Roxas had gotten a really bad case of allergies that year, he was confined to the indoors, constantly blowing his nose red and itchy, falling asleep on the couch in the living room. Instead of him usually cleaning his and Sora's shared room (and airing out Demyx's room as of late, since the boy was off in college doing music major related things), Sora had taken over the job of living space cleanliness only to find the note that Roxas had kept.

Of course, there was the initial shock. Bewilderment, yelling, silence, acceptance… Roxas ended up having to explain exactly what was going on in his head to his poor twin brother. He'd been dreaming of Axel on and off every month since that night, sometimes for nights back to back and other times only every two months. In fact, he was sure that Axel had helped him decide at a very young age that he was gay.

By the end of the Roxas's story, Sora had understood… and begun plotting. The brunet had almost called Axel's number a few times, but luckily Roxas had been able to stop him before he contacted the redheaded college student.

Yeah, this time was just an unlucky fluke.

Or was it lucky?

_Contradictions_…_ stupid, stupid contradictions,_ Roxas mentally sighed.

He was interrupted when an uncertain, semi-conversational voice grabbed his attention. "So it's your birthday?"

Axel interrupted his thoughts and snapped Roxas back into reality. He hadn't realized that they were already at the theater and in line for tickets.

"Yeah, it's my birthday," he confirmed.

"How old are you turning?"

He hesitated, remembering how the boy with the long, purple-tinted bangs had asked him that same question in the park 'that night'. Why did Sora have to go and call this Axel guy? Why couldn't he have waited until Roxas was eighteen, legally in charge of himself, to do stupid shit like this?

Sighing, Roxas looked up at the redhead next to him. Axel was still politely waiting for a response, and Roxas wasn't sure if he was just acting or genuinely interested. It was rude to keep the man waiting, so Roxas answered.

"Seventeen," he murmured.

"So you're not legal…"

Was that a sad hope in the redhead's voice, or was that Roxas's imagination?

"Yet," he clarified, ignoring whatever it was that he may or may not have picked up by accident.

"Yet?" Axel teased, grinning crookedly at the younger male.

"Yet," Roxas repeated, allowing the redhead a glimpse of his tiny smile back.

He locked gazes with Axel and could swear he saw those clear, celery eyes widen a fraction at the bold action.

_That's right. I guess I did grow up to be pretty cute, just like how you predicted._

His smile dropped as Axel cleared his throat nervously and averted his eyes to the floor. Roxas did the same but watched out of the corner of his eyes as the college student shook his head discreetly and rubbed at his eyes.

"Hey guys, the movie's gonna start soon!" Sora called to them, waving the pair into the theater.

Roxas followed, not as reluctant as before, smiling to himself as Axel graciously held open the door for him. He blushed and stepped through the door, letting out a small held breath as Axel closed it behind him. Waiting for the redhead to catch up, Roxas fiddled with his shirt, staring awkwardly down at the floor. Before the redhead could see the reaction, Roxas wiped the look off his face and set his features back into pissed-off mode.

"Movie time for the birthday boy?" the redhead smiled kindly, allowing for Roxas to enter the darkened theater before him as well while Sora and Riku bought their refreshments. "Please sit, my prince," he offered a seat to Roxas once they'd stepped inside.

He graciously took it with a light 'thanks' and could feel his heart quicken in a mixture of panic and excitement as the redhead took the seat beside him and leaned in closer to whisper into his ear.

"I'm sorry this is so awkward."

Roxas could feel the hot breath on his skin and fought back the urge to smile. Instead of answering, he just gave the redhead his best pissy face and slumped into his theater seat. The redhead sighed in defeat and turned to the screen. The blond could almost feel the way Axel's impression of him was slowly tipping toward completely negative.

_Me too_, he thought, _even if my memories really didn't do you any justice._

* * *

**Notes!  
**- In other countries, some houses have half stories where there's another floor coming up from the a little higher than halfway up the side of the wall. In Sora and Roxas's case, they sleep on opposite sides of the conjoined half-stories in their room. If you still don't get what's going on, check out this link: http: /www. youtube .com/watch?v=SyVox6FJotM and the thing that the guy climbs up to is a half-story. Pretty much in Sora and Roxas's room, that half story extends around three of four of the exterior walls of the rectangular room and stop right above where the door to their room is.  
- Seventeen is considered legal in Japan, but they're not in Japan. I've just kinda taken the Shibuya from The World Ends With You out of context and stuck it in with the rest of the KH worlds, so standard laws from the real world don't apply. Sorry if this confused anyone. X3

Holy SHIT. I was blown away by the amount of positive reviews I got on the first day this story was posted. -sighs happily- Thanks so much, guys. :D

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	3. Meeting

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.  
So, I haven't really been writing much on this story. The ideas were baking, but I didn't feel like writing them until I finished my Seiner "Rinse and Repeat". Sorry my almost-OTP took priority this time!  
On another note, I'll probably try to write this fic as regularly as possible but will be focusing on Spicy after this (or perhaps the next?) chapter so that I can finish that fic and bring more focus to this piece. :)

[I thought the last chapter totally sucked arse, so I promise that I'll try my best to do better next time. D: ]

* * *

**Call Me  
**Meeting

Lemon-scented soapsuds filled the sink in small content mounds of skin-wrinkling cleanliness. Two rubber-protected hands worked their joints monotonously, scrubbing at the pile of dishes and cups hidden away inside the white blanket of aired bubbles. Around him, the dulled hum of voices from the main part of the WildKat Café drifted in through the occasionally swung open door to the kitchen, and Axel meditated quietly in its soothing non-silence.

_Roxas…_

The date hadn't gone badly at all – if it could even be called a date. In all honesty, it was more of a shoved-together-meeting than a date between two people who had only ever spoken with each other once in their lives, a little over eight years ago.

During the movie, the two of them were forced to sit together without Sora or Riku, which quite frankly pissed Axel off. Still, underneath his constant mental screaming of 'holy effing shit, this is_not_ happening to me', Axel found himself wondering about exactly what kind of person Roxas was. What kid would hang on to a memory from so long ago like that? After all, the kid was only eight years old – if Zexion had informed him correctly – when the entire thing took place, and several years later the kid was seventeen and still thinking about Axel.

_Did I really leave such a big impression on him?_

Axel mentally retraced their first (or was it second?) meeting ever, the details of the experience before, during, and after the movie replaying over and over in his head.

His initial feelings were nothing but shock pouring through his system and spreading through every part of his conscious mind as he had watched the brunet teen in front of him rattle the ground-shaking words that displayed every bit of Axel's basic personal information for the world to enjoy. All he could remember seeing were two sets of oceanic blue eyes, one of which held a playfully amused glint that spelled everything under the sun and could translate into trouble, while the other pair of eyes mirrored the same kind of intense and embarrassed confusion that must've been coating his face.

He'd sucked up his pride and allowed for the day to play out like that Sora kid and Riku had planned. As far as he could tell, that Roxas kid seemed to have the first date jitters and Axel wasn't about to go be a douchebag and slap him across the face and demand that he wake up to face the real world, because the thing is, for Axel, the real world wasn't like that.

_You have to suck it up and play nice to everyone to avoid getting shot._

But even with that thought, Axel couldn't imagine why he had told the kid that he was glad they met. He hadn't lied, but… he just couldn't figure out why he had felt that way. Perhaps it was because he could finally see that what he'd done to the blond when they were both still children didn't break him emotionally or mentally in any way. At least, he couldn't tell from what he saw on their pseudo-date if Roxas had any social interaction issues. Intrapersonal on the other hand, he had no idea if Roxas had any problems in that department – but that was more like Zexion's thing to decide, so he left the thought alone for the day.

With a final sigh, Axel dried the last of the dishes and replaced them in their proper places in the kitchen. Peeling off his rubber gloves (he _hated_ having pruney hands), Axel nodded offhandedly toward Mr. Hanekoma and ducked his way out the rear door of the café for his break.

His entire body felt the effects of staying up for a good majority of the night, pondering the blond from the day before until his mind collapsed on itself from exhaustion. Legs and torso sore from tossing and turning on his lumpless mattress, Axel leaned against the wall beside the glass door of the WildKat Café and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Tapping a single stick out of the carton, he perched the cig on his lips and pulled the lighter from his pocket as he simultaneously returned the carton to its usual resting place.

A sense of calm filled his buzzing head as he lit the cigarette and took his first drag. Every notion of worry and wonder escaped as the spicy, slightly bitter smoke filled his airways and began to dry out the insides of his mouth. The burning sensation in his throat kicked up a few notches in intensity as he let the smoke filter out through his slightly cracked lips before he took a second inhale. With half-lidded eyes, he watched the gray stream leak out from between his lips and imagined that each puff was another strand of thoughts leaving his body and flying into the air, never to bother him again.

"You shouldn't be doing that."

The redhead took a third drag on the cigarette and glanced to his right to see his well-dressed, silver-haired coworker staring up at the sky beside him.

"Hey, Joshua. You takin' your break too?" he replied, earning a chuckle for his avoidance of the aforementioned boy's statement.

Axel turned his attention back to the sky; the cloud-filled blue shining back at him with a contentedness only an inanimate object could muster. Slowly, the clouds drifted over the sun, caking the entirety of Cat Street in darkness.

"So what happened this time?" the silveret wondered in a tone that ambiguously suggested that he was both questioning the taller man and pondering the question himself as he spoke. Axel hesitated, dropping his right hand to his side and flicking a bit of ash off the end of the cigarette and onto the street. He tuned out the world and watched the flecks of gray just sit on the concrete until a pedestrian walked nearby and entered the WildKat through the side door. "Flynn?" Joshua prompted again, "What happened?"

"Met a kid," the redhead replied after a few moments of hesitation, kicking his leg up and back on the brick wall and leaning forward so that he rested his upper body weight on his right elbow connected to his thigh.

Instead of letting the mention of the blond teenager leak into his thoughts again, he began counting the drags he was taking on his cigarette. What was this now… number nineteen? Yeah, definitely number nineteen.

" 'Kid…' Underage?"

Axel sighed. He knew the boy would be pressing for more details but he didn't expect himself to accidentally divulge that kind of information. Still, Joshua Kiryu never doled out information about one person to another without permission. He was just the cocky little bastard that liked to hold superior knowledge over everyone else who occasionally gave good advice.

_Gave good advice…_

"Yeah," he affirmed, breathing out the twenty-fourth stream of smoky chemicals since he'd left the building.

"That's not like you," the other male commented. "And your expression tells me you probably feel like jumping off a cliff right now."

Axel ignored the comment and continued to suck away at the death in a stick he had against his lips. Before he could take the twenty-fifth inhale, a pale hand reached over and plucked Axel's half-used cigarette from his fingertips and put it out against the brick wall in a swift, practiced motion. The redhead scowled and glared at Joshua, briefly wondering what it would be like to maybe 'accidentally' mess up his dressy outfit to tease him for a change.

"Hmph. A cliff would certainly be welcome."

Axel leaned back, his arms crossed as his fingers pulled at the end of his shirt out of the line of his coworker's sight. If he wasn't going to get a cigarette, then he was going to fumble with his clothes and that little silver-haired devil sure as hell wasn't going to stop him from doing _that_.

"So what's he li–"

"Joshua. Stop it."

A flicker of shock passed over the silveret's features but quickly settled back into calm as he connected eyes with the redhead. The boy only grinned and turned away, patting Axel's shoulder soothingly as he opened the glass door and stepped inside.

"Another time then, my friend."

"Yeah, yeah… whatever…" Axel murmured as he followed the silveret back into the café. Maybe he'd ask Mr. Hanekoma for a cup of coffee or some soup to get rid of the sour taste that was forming in his mouth. Besides, Riku and Zexion would be there soon and he already knew that they hated it when Axel started complaining about the aftertaste of his cigarettes.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora was in deep, _deep_ shit now. If anyone was going to try to save him from this deep shit, they shouldn't attempt it without wearing a biohazard suit and the available option of being quarantined afterward.

Roxas glared at the mirror, trying to find the best expression he could use to scare his twin shitless before he left the bathroom after his afternoon shower. Sure, he was seventeen now and should probably know exactly how (ineffectively) scary he could be to his own twin, but it never hurt to practice before the real thing.

Sighing, he plopped down onto the toilet seat cover and buried his face in his hands. He didn't care that the tight tuck of the towel around his waist was slipping as he ran through his thoughts over the day before. After the mental trace of his meeting with Axel, he realized that somewhere out there, the redhead was probably just as confused and as surprised as he was. After all, no one could be proud of drunkenly almost molesting an eight-year-old in the middle of a park in the dead of the night.

Well, not unless said person was some sick, child-molesting freak, but Roxas doubted that Axel was like that.

Truth be told, he had already considered that perhaps Axel could've been a pedo-be (a wanna-be pedophile – Kairi and Naminé could be strange so don't ask) or was just simply on the edge of passing out drunk and didn't mean or remember a single thing. He'd realized that even though the memory was burned into his mind, he may have glorified the moment in his memory to be more than what had actually happened that night. The fact that he, as an elementary-school-age child, had actually aroused Axel worried Roxas. Still, the hazy dialogue that was interchanged the night of the occurrence made Roxas wonder if it was really the younger version of himself and his body, or perhaps what he would become in the future if puberty was kind to him.

Apparently it had been, if beating back 'suitors' (Sora could be just as strange as the girls sometimes – _seriously_, don't ask) by the flock was any sign of their allure as loved-by-the-puberty-fairy fraternal twins.

Hair dripping globs all over the small rug kept beside the bathroom sink , Roxas stood up and readjusted his towel before yanking open the door of the bathroom and walking down the hall into his and Sora's shared room, intent on getting dressed and yelling at Sora for as long as humanly possible. Inside, said brunet was lounging about atop his half of the half-story sleeping space reading a magazine with his cherry-red cell phone beside his right hand ready to be picked up at the instant it began buzzing with a new text message.

Roxas crossed the space from the door to their dressers and immediately opened his underwear drawer for the first article of clothing. The two of them shared the same stash of clothes and separate underwear drawers. Anything stored in the dressers outside their respective private drawers was fair game for wearing. Still, the two of them had their undeniable favorites and they generally avoided each other's obvious belongings – a mutual respect that developed from the two males having cohabitated all their lives.

Sora giggled loudly as his phone vibrated and he flipped open the screen to read the new message. Roxas's fists clenched as he heard the rapid tapping of Sora's response to the message and he saw the brilliant grin spread across Sora's dazzling smile, obviously not a by-product of conversing with either of the sisters that had once lived in the building.

"Talking to Riku?"

It wasn't so much of a question as an accusatory statement, but Sora chose to ignore the blonde's tone of voice and answered as cheerfully as possible.

"Yeah, I'm talking to Hot Ass. Why–"

"So what exactly possessed you to shove me into his arms?"

The sudden change in topic caused Sora to look up from his laying position and to the ground while Roxas aimed his badly-practiced mean face at his brunet twin, the limp fabric of a tight blue tee falling over his shoulder as he perched his hands on his hips right above the waistline of the black sport shorts he was wearing. Luckily (or unluckily), Sora was unfazed by his twin's display and simply continued with the awkward flow of conversation.

"I thought you wanted to see him again."

Roxas groaned and facepalmed. Sure, his twin usually knew what he wanted, but assuming something like this about Roxas and then _acting_ on it without consulting him first was just… just over the boundaries and into the stratosphere.

"Did you seriously think that just because I kept the note that he wrote me it meant that I wanted to see him again? That's a treasure box that holds all my memories! Did you even stop to think that maybe I was just chronicling an important part of my past? Fuck, Sora, that guy pretty much helped me realize that I was gay!"

Sora's eyebrows scrunched together and he bit his lip in hesitation to answer.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Instead of answering, Sora left his phone and magazine and descended the ladder of the half story to join Roxas on the floor. Taking his brother's hand, he led the feisty blond to the couch beneath the extension from the wall that he had just been laying on and sat him down, waiting until he was comfortable enough to speak.

"… How could you know you were gay when we were nine?"

Roxas took in a deep breath, crossing his left arm over his waist as he brought his right hand to his lips. He sighed exasperatedly and locked eyes with his brother.

"Yeah, it sounds pretty fucking unbelievable that I figured I liked penis when I was maybe eight or nine, but don't you remember what else happened that night? We were with Naminé and Kairi and you guys dared me and Nami to kiss. I fucking ran out of the building to get away from her, don't you remember?"

"I remember…" Sora trailed off. "But you were acting like a little schoolgirl on her first date, blushing and fumbling with your shirt and trying to stare at him without getting caught. And then when it was time to go back to Shibuya Station, he walked you as far as he could until we had to board and leave. I mean, it seemed to me like you wanted to see him again and that you were glad to get the chance with the way that the two of you were acting."

The petit blond hung his head and rested his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped before his body. A small smile lit his face as he replied in a whispery murmur that Sora barely caught as the sounds of their father working around in the kitchen outside overpowered the silence that had invaded the room.

"It was nice to see Axel again. I mean, it's not like he's, uhm… like he's…"

"He's hot," the brunet deadpanned.

That caused his younger twin to smile and throw the blue shirt he had neglected to put on at Sora's face. With shared laughs, the two collapsed onto the back of the sofa so that they sat together in their usual tangle of limbs that not even Demyx could figure out how they worked. Sora leaned closer to his brother, laying his head on Roxas's shoulder and running a soothing hand through his hair.

"So the real question is: Do you want to see Akuseru again?"

In the back of his mind, a part of him jumped happily at the thought of meeting up with Axel again. He did say that he'd been glad that they had met again, but what was that supposed to mean? But putting that aside, time certainly hadn't diminished the allure of his undeniably attractive features and puberty had been _very_ kind to his voice and body…

But what would Axel want?

"I don't know."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Brushing strands of moonsilk hair out of his eyes, Riku leaned back and propped his arms behind his head. Across the small table in the library of his old high school sat Zexion, his nose buried in yet another book. Around the library, Riku could still see glances being snuck toward the two of them, the majority from a group of giggling females sporting ever-bold D+B threads and the occasional male that happened to wander by their table. Turning his attention away from their admirers, Riku refocused to the conversation going on at the table behind him.

"I'm really sorry, but you don't have a chance with Roxas Esment."

Riku's ears snapped into alert the moment he heard Axel's future fiancé's name.

_Roxas, eh? Might be Roxas Esment now, but he'll be Roxas Flynn in a few years. Just watch._

Zexion quirked an eyebrow as a grin spread across his silver-haired best friend's face. Riku motioned toward the people behind him and explained with silent lips that 'Roxas Esment' was the boy from the park. Shutting his book, Zexion leaned forward and joined in with the eavesdropping.

"Yeah, I know, but… What if _I'm_ the one that can change him? What if I'm the one that he could really end up…"

There was a moment of hesitation before a small tentative voice replied, "I'm sorry, but he's not interested."

"How can you even know that? He doesn't _talk_ to anybody!"

A girl sighed loudly and angrily, the sound of a chair sliding across the carpeted floor following soon after. The rustling of a bag being packed and slung over a shoulder sounded loudly through the silent space.

"Whatever, Naminé. You probably just want him for yourself."

"No, I–"

Naminé was unable to protest as the abrupt movement from the angered girl quickly cut her off. Instead of leaving, the femme with the awful hair-dye job advanced until the pretty blonde's personal space had been clearly violated.

"The rumors say you and your sister are supposedly 'childhood best friends' with the Esment twins – but Roxas _never_ talks to you. And from what I've seen, you're only friends with Sora because the kid won't let anyone get near his brother and vice versa. Besides, practically everyone is friends with Sora!" The girl rolled her eyes and continued, "Why does everyone come to you before they try to ask out any of the twins? Why did I even do this? God…"

Riku looked up as one of the blonde ladies who worked at the library was finally fed up with the girl's voice and stormed over to the pair.

"Get out now," she hissed at both of them. "There's to be _no_ yelling in this establishment. Please leave."

Standing up from his chair, Riku placed a firm hand on the librarian's shoulder, holding her back from attacking the girl when she didn't budge a muscle.

"Konishi, calm down. I'll handle this." With a smile, he turned to the angry girl and draped his arm loosely across his waist while the other was brought to his lips as if examining the girl before him in a strangely flirtatious manner. "I was about to leave the library and overheard your conversation. I was wondering if I could talk to you about it once we got out?"

Most people his age probably would have given him a strange are-you-a-stalker look for saying that, but with the recipient of his words being a snooty high school student, he got no such response. In fact, the D+B girls from the corner of the library that had been staring at Riku before were now glaring daggers at the little lady he'd picked up.

"Y-yeah, sure…" she blushed, shooting a triumphant grin toward Naminé and following Riku out of the building.

Zexion's lips pulled up into what would be considered one of his slight grins as he watched the scene unfold from where he sat. Already, he could hear the ideas brewing in Riku's head as he took charge of the situation. Turning once before they left the library together, the silver-haired he-devil looked back over his shoulder and winked mischievously. The last thing he saw was Zexion pulling his book back out and flipping to the page where he'd left off only a few minutes before. No doubt they'd have a lot to talk about later.

Outside, Riku flipped open his phone and composed a quick text message before returning his attention to the girl before him. A quick survey of her outfit showed that she _tried_ to practice proper hygienic habits but just plain sucked at managing her hair. Whoever gave her the haircut was probably high and snipping at rabbits bouncing through her fake black locks while randomly splashing bleach all over the place. Then it looked like whoever had given her a hair cut decided to baptize her in purple dyes after the acid trip just for kicks.

"So you know Roxas and Sora Esment?"

The girl laughed loudly, batting her eyelashes at Riku as she answered.

"Yeah, I guess. They're pretty well known at high school even though they go to Twilight Academy. Of course…" she stepped forward, catching his black and blue striped tie between her fingertips and leaning in closer, "… they're not as attractive as you are."

Suddenly, Riku's phone buzzed in his pocket and he backed away with a gracefully apologetic smile as his right hand slipped down to retrieve the device. The girl backed off, understanding but still annoyed, as she allowed the silveret room to take the call. Riku took one look at the caller ID and a feral grin lit his inner mind.

"Hey, Angel, how are you?"

He nearly choked with laughter as he saw the visible signs of the girl's attention perking the moment the words left his lips. Oh, he was going to thoroughly enjoy this.

"No, no… Sora, Angel, I told you to meet me at the WildKat _next_ week, silly! I don't want you wandering around Cat Street all alone, cuz your cute little ass could get molested if you're alone! And be careful when you leave that you don't let Axel see you there, okay? He might get angry at us being together."

Riku turned away from the girl, watching her reflection in the mirror as he continued to speak with his 'Angel'. After listening to the brunet quietly laugh his head off on the other end of the phone, Riku continued his one-sided conversation, his eyes already swimming with unshed, humorous tears.

"Yeah, feel free to 'punish' me when I get home. You _are_ an Esment after all… Oh, that's naughty. You shouldn't be thinking those things, my Angel. Leather bondage and chocolate sauce shouldn't mix like _that_."

Riku schoolgirl giggled once before turning around momentarily to hold up two fingers to signal that he needed a few minutes on the phone. The scandalized look that already marred her greatly imperfect face only increased as she nodded quickly and turned away to leave. After a few more faked and flirtatious giggles from the silveret, the girl finally gave up and rounded the corner.

The moment the end of her summer skirt flapped away from his line of sight, a boisterous laugh sounded into the air as he gave up on holding it in. Around him, the bright green leaves shone against the blue sky reflecting the cheerful and omnipresent harmony that embodied Hollow Bastion High's campus. After his laughter calmed down, he took a moment to gather his breath and admire the sound of the brunet's sparkling voice on the other side of the phone.

_"So did we get her?"_ Sora asked, the smile in his voice painting the entirety of Riku's mood a bright blue and yellow.

"Yeah, we definitely kicked some shitty schoolgirl ass!"

Riku took in a deep breath and looked into one of the windows of the library to see Zexion smirking at him and nodding approvingly. Contrary to popular belief, Zexion wasn't the stoic scholar that everyone had made him out to be. In fact, he was about as sarcastic and mischievous as his two best friends – only difference was he was just better at hiding it.

_"Ya know, at first I was like 'where the hell did this come from' when you asked for me to call you if __I__didn't mind people thinking I was gay, but… dang, that was funny!"_

"No kidding," Riku agreed, falling against the wall of the outside of the library.

Looking back inside the library he nodded toward Zexion, requesting with single-handed, physical signals for the lilac-haired male to join him outside. The shorter male complied, gathering up his book and throwing Konishi the Librarian a smile before he left. She returned it sans warmth and Zexion pushed his way out through the double doors.

_"So you wanna meet me at the WildKat Café next week?"_

Riku grinned and replied, "Well, of course! We need to talk about Axel and Roxas, so will you?"

_"Yeah, no problem… but why do I need to watch out for Akuseru?"_

Riku sighed loudly into the phone, resting his head atop Zexion's and causing the studious male to exhale loudly and roll his eyes while flicking Riku straight in the forehead with practiced aim. Rubbing at his forehead, the silveret decided he really needed to kick that habit. Any more flicks and he might lose some brain cells.

"Oh, it's because he works there. But don't worry cuz I'll text you with a date and shift that he won't be working. And didn't I tell you not to call him 'Akuseru'? It's 'Axel' and you could lose a body part for not calling him that."

"That body part would most likely end up being a certain appendage essential your anatomy and the existence of your future grandchildren that would go missing in the middle of the night if you aren't careful," Zexion both supplied and agreed.

_"Hey, Hotness?"_

Quirked eyebrow aimed at his face, Riku smirked at the nickname and winked at Zexion… to which the usually serious male began deftly rotating his pelvis in a subtly provocative motion. Riku laughed and nudged the male with his elbow to still him.

"Yes, my angel?" he replied, elbowing the slim man beside him again just for kicks.

_"Who the heck was that?"_

With an excited thrust of the arm, Riku handed the phone off to his best friend.

"Hello, Sora Esment. My name is Zexion Corazza."

_"Ah… The infamous Sexy Zexy! Yeah, Riku told me about you. Said you were a real devil in scholar's clothing__,__ among other things. So are you?"_

Zexion's mouth twitched up approvingly as he looked Riku in the eyes. Even though he wondered exactly what Riku had said about his person as a whole, there was no doubt in his mind that he already approved of this kid.

"You certainly heard correctly regarding the first detail of information. What other tidbits of information did our lovely King Riku tell you?"

_"You're the asexual valedictorian of Twilight Academy's graduating class from a few years back."_

An awkward silence filled the air while Zexion turned to the pretty boy beside him and smacked said pretty boy upside the head with his hardcover book of six hundred or something odd pages. On the other end of the cell, Sora could hear Riku's cry of indignant protest for his best friend to stop touching him. That, unfortunately, prompted a series of good-natured laughs and smiles from Sora's lips.

"Well then," Zexion concluded as he watched Riku rub at the back of his head with amused eyes, "you are sadly only partially corre–"

"Woah, _woah_, **_woah_**!" Riku held his hands in front of Zexion's face as if to physically stop the sound vibrations of his speech. "You're _not_ asexual?"

"No, I just – " Zexion rolled his one visible eye and crossed one arm over his torso, averting his tired gaze to the ground as he attempted to protest and was cut off again.

"How will I ever live with this new knowledge? How could you not be asexual?"

"Gallagher…" he warned, receiving no response.

Riku, on the other hand, took it upon himself to drape his arm over his best friend's shoulder. With an evilly dramatic grin, Riku latched his body weight to Zexion's and almost pulled his black hoodie off as he clutched the fabric and slid to the ground on his knees. Around them, the passers-by shuffling in and out through the door were staring at Riku. Behind them, a mother turned and covered her son's ears and led him away from the pair as Riku began lamenting the loss of his impression of his friend's sexual preference.

"Oh the betrayal!"

"Gallagher!" Zexion snapped, "would you please_ kindly_ shut the fuck up?"

A loud laugh could be heard ending on the other end of the phone just as the lilac-haired male pressed a fingertip under Riku's chin and pressed upward to close his gaping hole of an open mouth and jaw. With a straight stare in the eye, Zexion deadpanned:

"No, I just had to share the valedictorian title with Vexen Prince."

Riku calmed down from his dramatic public display and went back to his usual solid and unwavering expression of aloofness.

_"So you **are** asexual."_

"As far as I can see… yes, that is affirmative."

The pair on the phone ignored Riku's relieved cries and the mother who'd covered her child's ears rushed into the library avoiding the apologetic eye contact Riku attempted to send her way. After a few more minutes of exchanging friendly banter, the two decided that Riku's cell phone batteries had suffered enough and were going to be put back to sleep as soon as possible. By this time, the silveret had resorted to pouting and making puppy dog eyes at his beloved Zexy to get the phone back. And, as usual, the man went along continuing the conversation unfazed.

_"Well, Rox is about to get out of the shower so… bye. And hang up before you return the phone to Riku; it's fun to watch him squirm."_

Zexion did as suggested. Handing the cell phone back to Riku without allowing him to say goodbye ended up just as the brunet predicted: Riku nearly cried.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"So tell me again why we're at the WildKat without Axel?"

Riku leaned forward until his nose brushed against Sora's. To the brunet's credit, he didn't flinch. Around the pair, Zexion and a few of Axel's coworkers gathered around to listen to the conversation. Even though the WildKat Café was open late, Hanekoma still closed for a few hours before the later shift started so that his workers could have a break, tidy up a bit, maybe take a nap, or sit down for a hot cup of conspiratorial joe. After all, what better way to spend a Sunday than with a great set of people that were hell-bent on running Axel's life for the greater good? Hanekoma allowed for them to use his café and they were going to take full advantage of the opportunity.

"Because," Riku explained, "Your birthdays were last week on June thirteenth and Axel's is on July eighth. And, since we celebrated with you guys, you and Roxas are invited to his surprise party."

"Really?" Sora breathed in a low, amused whisper, the air from his lips tickling Riku's lips. Zexion cleared his throat and the two gracefully slid back, grinned at one another while Joshua let out a low whistle.

"So we're planning a party for Flynn." Never a question from the usually silent Neku Sakuraba; only statements that more often than not held a falsely accusatory tone.

Joshua leaned closer to the redhead, sliding an arm across Neku so that it rested on his opposite shoulder. As he sat back up, Neku was forcefully pulled into a position of more physical contact than he appreciated, the oversized purple headphones that he was forced to hang around his neck (because Joshua had long since decided that he would _not_ be ignored) bumping lightly against Joshua's collarbone. Zexion, on the other hand, scooted away from the pair and closer to Riku. Sora simply smiled and decided not to help out the stoic orange-haired boy's cause.

"Well, I was thinking I'd invite you guys over to our apartment in Radiant Garden. Zexy already okay-ed this so it's just a matter of whether or not you guys want to show up or not. Party starts at four and lasts 'til as long as it can without someone trying to get drunk."

Sora gave him a surprised look, his head tilting to the side in confusion as he inquired, "'Without someone trying to get drunk'? What do you mean?"

"Oh," Riku turned his attention back to the brunet, "Axel doesn't drink alcohol."

"But has no qualms whatsoever with smoking," Joshua muttered under his breath. Luckily, the only two people who heard him were Sanae Hanekoma and Neku Sakuraba; the former grinned while the latter continued listening, unflinching.

Sora's facial expression deepened as he processed what Riku had told him, showing that he obviously did not want to be disturbed.

_Axel hates alcohol… Is it because of Roxas? So does that mean…_

"When was the last time he had a drink?" Sora interrupted the conversation, four pairs of eyes turning to him in confusion. Zexion on the other hand, simply nodded and proceeded to answer Sora's question.

"Last time Axel ingested alcohol was when he met Roxas."

Sora simply nodded, satisfied for the time being and dived back into the conversation. Smiling as he watched Riku talk animatedly with his hands, a light smile on his face, Sora brought his cup of coffee to his lips, savoring the slightly bitter taste that still lingered in his over-sugared coffee. He could feel Riku's eyes follow his lips and tongue as he sipped the liquid and licked his lips afterward. Feeling a bit devious, Sora locked eyes with the silveret and ran his tongue over his teeth making Riku squirm slightly.

Shifting his attention from the gorgeous piece of man meat in front of him, Sora turned and began observing two of the new people in Axel and Riku's social circle that he'd been introduced to. His eyebrows shot up as he saw Joshua's well-cared-for hand slip under the table followed by Neku's eyes widening a fraction and a blush lighting his face as Joshua leaned in closer to the slight, orange-haired male beside him and whispered something into his ear. Sora chuckled as he caught wind of a few words resembling 'tonight' and 'give in' coming from the silver-haired male's lips. That resulted in Neku bushing even more furiously and pulling away from the ever-forward Joshua. With a slight giggle, the silveret turned and faced Sora.

"You're going to the party, right?" Joshua asked. "We'd love to get to know you and that Roxas kid. Gotta figure out Axel's type, right, Nekky?"

Neku sighed and rolled his eyes at the mention of his nickname, earning another giggle from the boy beside him. If his gaydar was in proper function, it was setting off all the dings and whistles of alarm that had ever been created for any half-functional radar of any sort. Another month and those two would be together and rolling around in the bed sheets on a daily basis.

"Of course," he replied, grinning at the pair. "July eighth at four o'clock at Axel, Zexion, and Riku's place, right?"

The silveret across the table from him grinned and winked. Sora tipped back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head, grinning cheekily as he locked gazes with the silveret. Sensing the change in atmosphere, the others simply backed off, Neku and Joshua returning to their work while Zexion reopened the book he'd been reading at the library about a week ago to finish the last of his six hundred pages on the sofa alone. Even though he could tell out of the corner of his eye that Zexion was still keeping tabs on the pair, Sora decided to act as if no one was watching.

So he leaned forward and began flirting relentlessly with the Piece of Hot Ass.

If he was going to stay for a few more hours, he might as well have fun doing it. Besides, Roxas was going to hear about this later and there was no way that he'd be able worm his way out of this one. He just hoped that his blond twin wouldn't mess it up.

* * *

**One Thing!** Yeah, if you've noticed, I've decided to use the last names of the voice actors as the characters' last names. (Not very original... but I love the way Riku Gallagher _sounds_, ya know?) I used "Esment" as opposed to "Osment" for Sora, Roxas, and Demyx's last name cuz it just soudned more... refined. -laughs-

I'd like to point out that even though Zexy seems OOC, I'm just exploring his personality differently than most fics present him. A lot of the time, Zexion is shown as some whiny emo guy who is silent and anti-social to the bone. I don't think he _always_ has to be like that, ya know? [Insert Rai mask here.] Instead, I've decided to invest some time into showing how instead of interpreting him as simply a bookworm who hates life, I've decided that he does indeed have a more colorful personality but just likes to wear the mask of unflinching severity for comic effect. It's a little... I dunno.

Does it work? You tell me. :D

_Bisous, Minikimii_

P.S. Review Plox? I hate seeing people favorite without telling me _why_.


	4. Talk

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.  
Sorry the update took so long, but I have two really good reasons... One, I finally sucked it up and now have **Aindel S. Druida** as a lovely Beta. (Two, my AP testing is OVER!) :D Therefore, quality of the chapters is going to go up by amazing-epic-[insert-number-here]-fold! She even agreed to look over the first few chapters for the story, so everything will be great now! :D  
I'm going to tell you guys two things about this chapter: 1) It will take a VERY long time to read. 2) Lots of intercharacter relationship development takes place!

Have fun~! :D

* * *

**Call Me  
**Talk

Sora held the phone against his ear, talking quietly in the kitchen as he waited for his brother to finish getting dressed. The ringing on the other end of the electric device suddenly cut short and a familiar, musical voice picked up on the other end.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, Dem…" Sora could almost hear the instantaneous smile in Demyx's voice.

_"Yeah, So?"_

He took in a deep breath. Hopefully this would work. Even though the Esment brothers had a pretty laid back father, he wasn't the type to just allow his sons to hang out with some random college students at a birthday party where they were going to be doing God knows what. Therefore, Sora was going to do something he'd been waiting years to be able finally pull off at the right time for the right reason.

"I'm calling you about that favor you owe me…"

_"Oh shit."_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ_  
_

"So you're kidnapping me."

Sora grinned, looking Roxas dead in the eyes as he replied, "yes."

"How long are you kidnapping me?"

"All of tonight," his brother chuckled. Roxas sighed and leaned against the metal pole beside him. Why was he here when he could be at home writing?

Roxas watched the other passengers of the train through the reflections on the glass windows. From across the small horizontal space he recognized a few girls from his math class last year at Twilight Academy. The redheaded one noticed his glance and smiled, waving as she nudged her other friends and began silently gloating. Roxas averted his attention and looked out the tall rectangular window of the slowing train, the hair of his reflection bobbing slightly as the train came to a stop.

"Because…" Roxas trailed off, waiting for a fill-in answer. The doors of the train opened before him, allowing the smell of people to rush in as quick, flitting breezes around him, and he made his way through the train doors and onto the platform. Careful not to fall into the crack between the platform and the track, Roxas stepped over the space and took a few steps before turning around to watch his brother follow him close behind.

"Because you need to get laid," Sora chirped with finality, advancing ahead of his brother as they exited the subway.

Apparently he'd spoken too loudly. All around the twins, people turned and eyed them strangely. Two mothers around the pair gasped loudly, quickly moving to cover their children's ears as Roxas's voice grew in indignant volume. A girl standing nearby caught his eye and winked, running her tongue over her teeth in what she must've assumed was a seductive manner.

"What?" he hissed, stopping his brother by the shirt sleeve. The brunet only pushed past a group of teenagers standing in the middle of the main path and turned around to face Roxas after they were free.

"Err…" the brunet laughed, feigning innocence, "I mean, for surprise sex. I'm gonna jump your ass once we duck into that back alleyway over there."

The two entered the throng of people as college students filed in past the empty space they had left in the train, eager to leave for the weekend. The content buzz of life sounded around his ears as he exited the platform and followed the exit signs to a way out of the underground rail. Roxas didn't bother turning to check if Sora was following. By the sound of Sora's voice, his brother was already behind him, chuckling and quite vividly carrying on the conversation without hesitation.

"Sora," he sighed, turning to face his bubbly twin, "that's called rape."

"No, no, Roxy. It's only rape if you forget to yell 'surprise' first. If you do, then… it's surprise sex."

"Yeah," Roxas replied, rolling his eyes and ignoring the strange looks from the passers-by, "that'll definitely hold up in a court of law."

"Well, _duh_," Sora stated matter-of-factly, grinning back.

Silence followed. The lack of response forced the slightly worried Roxas to turn around and search for his sibling. Predictably, the brunet was standing only a few feet away and simply waiting for a chance to make eye contact with his sibling.

With a quick slide to the right, Sora slipped out of his brother's sight temporarily and rushed out into the open sunlight, the grin on his face brightening as the warm, four o'clock rays bathed him in happiness. Roxas couldn't help but smile as he followed his brother out of the underground tunnels and onto the street. Walking nearly side by side, Roxas followed Sora across the crosswalk.

"Anyways, I called Dem this morning and told him to cover for us. Of course, he wants to know who it is that's taking our virginities tonight, but…"

Multiple sets of eyes flickered toward the pair, most holding interest, confusion, shock, or some mix of the three in their expressions. Roxas didn't bother paying them much attention – he was only going to see them once (maybe twice if he was unlucky) in his life, so why bother trying to make a good impression? Instead, he focused on his surroundings.

Looking around, Roxas recognized that they were in Radiant Garden. The sun seemed brighter and the air flowed lighter than the stifling habitats of Shibuya and Twilight Town. Across the street from the underground exit was a well-groomed park, complete with trimmed bushes and a large but shallow pond with a series of bridges leading over its glistening, beauteous waters. A small part of Roxas hoped that he'd be able to spend a bit of time there later, especially because Radiant Garden University was his top choice in his continued education. Even though RGU wasn't the best school in the area, the Honors College was known for its excellent student success turnout in anything Language-related and was rumored to have teachers with connections to big time newspapers and publishing companies. Roxas wanted to major in English.

_Working with Professor Saïx… That would be amazing._

Just as he was about to dive headfirst back into his musings, Sora's voice interrupted and sent his thoughts scrambling away from his mental grasp.

"… so then I told him that he was just jealous he wasn't getting any from a hot piece of ass like I was. He flipped and started asking if you'd lost yours too! Damn, it's fun to mess with Demy. He's just so gullible." Roxas laughed. "Anyways, I just said that you were born gay and never had the chance to find one of your own kind to fornicate with."

The brunet threw his arms up in the air, gesturing in a grand motion at the last two words of his sentence as if presenting some physical example as they crossed the street. Risking a glace to a few cars and his fellow pedestrians, Roxas saw more scared faces regarding him and his twin with the same expressions as before.

Finally, they stopped crossing roads and made a right turn into a more residential-looking area filled with modern apartment buildings. The blond followed his brother past various structures, soon stopping and stepping inside a well-kept apartment complex. Sora walked around like he knew exactly where he was going, and Roxas had to stumble to keep up when he realized that asking a woman on the street where they were was causing him to fall behind.

"Seriously," the blond muttered, crossing his arms as he leaned against the entrance of the building, "sometimes I worry about you."

"You should. Anyways, here we are! Now get in."

Reluctant to make any step inside, Roxas ended up being dragged unwillingly by his arms into the building. Sora's entire body weight forced him to stumble through the sliding glass doors of the establishment. He had to admit, the place was a lot nicer-looking on the inside than he had expected. The space he'd stepped into was themed an inviting, bright red that played on his eyes and captured his attention quite easily. The space was small, probably as large as his bedroom, and there was a set of sliding glass doors opposite where he had come in that led to what he assumed was where the apartments themselves were located.

"An apartment building? Did Dem move again, because I _swear_ that if he moves in with another guy that's just giving him a place to live in exchange for some romp with his ass in the bed sheets…"

"Calm down, Roxy, don't flip a bitch and shoot someone. You're acting _just_ like Dem." Sora's face opposed his words, as the sadistic glint only appeared to be… shinier.

"Well, if that's what you're expecting then maybe I will," Roxas muttered. "Just to spite you," he added for good measure. He crossed his arms, annoyed, and leaned against the wall of the space Sora had stopped at. An apparent resident wearing black hair, shades, and a black vest over a tidy, white dress shirt gave the pair an amused look soon followed by a grin as he made his way past the bickering twins and further into the building.

"Whatever," Sora giggled, "I'll be safe cuz I'm wearing body armor!"

Roxas cocked an eyebrow. "Where?"

"It's invisible."

Although the expression on Sora's face told Roxas that he was far off in his hypothesis, the same expression also held glints of mischief that brought upon the incredible urge to run away as far as possible before something planned and awful happened. And as far as Roxas could tell, Sora's smirk of recognition of his fears only caused him to tremble more ferociously inside.

The blond would've also loved to run, except they were now in the middle of the courtyard of the apartments and ready to step into the somewhat large building. From one glance, it was apparent that the living spaces varied in size and design, unlike the cookie-cutter floor layouts of Roxas and Sora's home. Judging from the distance where he was standing and the length of the ground between himself and the glass doors to freedom, Roxas decided that running away would result in tripping and landing with a loud and messy _splat_.

So instead, Roxas stopped and eyed his brother, the concern for the brunet's mental health evident in his eyes.

"Yeah, that's right. Be silent!"

Just as Roxas was about to make a retort, Sora turned to the door they were resting beside and knocked. To his immense shock and horror, a familiar model-like, silver-haired male answered, nothing short of excitement shining in his shimmering, seemingly color changing, blue-green eyes.

"Hey, Sexy," the godawful apparition addressed his brother.

"Hey there, you."

And at that precise moment, a little part of Roxas's soul broke off and disintegrated into the darkness.

"Sora," he growled, casting his eyes down as he huffed loudly through his nostrils. The brunet turned around, looking every part the imp that he was as he dared to answer to the hushed calling of his name.

"Yeeeeees?"

"Why," Roxas hissed, "did I trust you in the first place?"

"Because you love me." And with that answer, Sora simply grabbed his arms and tugged him through the open door of the apartment. "Now get'ch yer ass in here. We've got Axel's surprise party to put together and a helluva lotta acquainting to do."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Akuseru Flynn was exhausted, and everyone who knew him knew that a tired Flynn meant a wrath to be reckoned with if roused. Sure, it was his birthday today, but he didn't like to make a big deal out of his turning twenty-three – he just wanted to sleep. Sleep like a baby, like a log, like a Zexion out cold for eleven hours on sleeping pills kind of sleep. He just… needed it. A worn-out Axel was an irritable Axel, and an irritable Axel was a dangerous Axel.

Bottom line: Akuseru Flynn was tired as hell, and no one was interested in losing his genitals anytime soon.

Too bad Riku hadn't gotten the notice.

Pushing and scraping the key against the lock, Axel finally fit the metal piece into the doorknob. He exasperatedly leaned against the door, simultaneously shoving his keys back into his pocket as he leaned over to flick on the light switch of the apartment.

"Surprise!"

Suddenly, a mass of human-shaped figures jumped out at him, each of them with their arms extended in every which direction, smiling and simultaneously blinking rapidly at the sudden presence of light in the room.

_Of course they would_, Axel mentally sighed as he realized Zexion and Riku had invited his coworkers, a few of his acquaintances, and…

And Roxas.

"Shit."

His fingers instantly itched for a cigarette, but he shoved the impulse aside. Without cracking so much as a smile, Axel made a beeline for his bedroom door, only looking back once before he closed it with a harsh finality.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"That went well."

Riku plopped into the sofa beside the calm and composed Zexion, huffing in frustration at the way the redhead had responded. After meeting Roxas, Axel had seemed perfectly fine but the moment the college student had seen the blond amongst those at his party, something had either clicked or snapped in his mind. Whoever it was that talked to Axel next would face nothing but trouble.

Across the room, Sora was conversing with his brother quietly away from Axel's bedroom door. Riku examined them, noting the tense look in Roxas's shoulders while simultaneously admiring the way Sora laughed whenever he made fun of his brother. His eyes trailed down from the brunet's spiked hair to the way his tight black shirt clung to his slim, gently curving body. He silently admired the way the brunet carried himself, noting how even accenting his outfit with simple, fingerless gloves made him appear to be so confident.

"Riku, you should stop staring and just go talk to him," Zexion smirked from beside the silveret.

"Yeah, I think I will." Standing up from where he had collapsed on the red cushion, Riku quickly got together two drinks and made his way to where Sora and Roxas were in the corner of the room. Without warning, the silveret tugged on Roxas's shirtsleeve and turned him around in a way that conveyed urgency. Mildly alarmed, the twins shut up and turned their attention to Riku.

"You should go in and talk to him."

"Excuse me?"

The silveret's attention suddenly focused in on the way Roxas was speaking. His eyes had widened in slight shock and his eyebrows were set in a way that opposed the air of 'annoyed' that Riku could tell Roxas was trying to project. When Riku finally met the younger male's eyes with his own, he could only see one reaction:

Panic. All Riku could hear was poorly masked panic… so he handed the two plastic cups in his hands to Roxas and smiled.

"Roxas, please," Sora added, surprising Riku. "Even Riku thinks you should go in."

"But I don't know him that well." Roxas glared at his twin. "Why do I have to be the one who goes out on a limb for everyone else?"

Sora's eyes shifted nervously to Riku for help.

"Roxas," the silveret murmured, "please. He's used to ignoring me and Zexion when he gets like this so we wouldn't get across to him." That statement was met with skepticism. "Please, Roxas?" Riku tried once more. "No one else would be appropriate to talk to him."

Even with the obvious reluctance in his eyes and the question of _how am **I** appropriate?_ playing though his mind, Roxas soon conceded and made his way toward Axel's bedroom door.

"You lied," Sora stated as he watched his brother slip behind the white door with two red plastic cups in his hands. "From what you told me last week, that Joshua kid could have gone in and talked to Axel just as effectively. They're on 'eternally good terms', according to you."

"I know," Riku chuckled. "I just think Roxas Jr. and Axel Jr. need to get acquainted." He slid his arm around the brunet's waist, pulling the slim boy closer against the side of his body. "Plus, now I get to have you to myself so I'm thinking it was pretty worth it."

Sora just smiled.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Roxas stepped in to see a mass of red, normally vertical hair hidden by the dip of the cotton pillow. Unsure of what to do, the blond remained at the door, pressing the wooden exit shut with a gentle click. With his back against his only option for leaving without embarrassing himself, Roxas simply stood, eyes burning intently into the back of Axel's head. Inside his chest, a constant pounding attacked his body, shaking small waves up into his throat. Being inside this room took a physical toll on him because it smelled of cigarette smoke, and Roxas was allergic. The blond coughed into his shoulder once and continued to stare at the redhead in the bed before him.

"Is this Zexion or Joshua?" Roxas almost jumped when Axel, still turned away in his bed, began talking to him. Instead of answering, the teen found that his tongue was tied and his vocal box had crapped out on him the moment he needed it. "If you're going be in here to give me the silent treatment, you should just leave now and save your breath."

"Whatever," Roxas huffed indignantly. At the sound of his voice, Axel whipped around in his bed to find a very annoyed and physically irritated blond standing in his room, ready to leave at the first official demand for solitude. To his disappointment, the words never came.

"I thought you were either Zexy or Josh," Axel told him. With a dull disinterest, Roxas noted that the older man hadn't apologized for his behavior.

"Obviously," the blond glared. He would have crossed his arms both out of habit and for good measure, but the drinks in his hands were in the way.

"What are you doing in here?" the man in bed asked warily.

Roxas's lips drew into a thin line and he responded simply, "Riku sent me."

"Why?" the redhead interrogated.

He refrained from answering any further as he watched Axel's legs move under the blanket as if shifting to find a more comfortable position. His attention flickered to a higher point on the redhead's body when the blanket slipped off his shoulder for a few seconds before he pulled it back over himself. Roxas's cheeks warmed in embarrassment and before he realized what he was doing, Axel had moved aside so that there was a space on the bed.

"Sit."

Roxas eyed him reluctantly, but soon decided the lanky male meant no harm. Setting both drinks in his hands on the nightstand, he crossed his arms and walked over to the mattress, sitting down carefully to avoid any physical contact with the older man (direct or indirect). By already getting a glimpse of Axel's toned and pale bare chest, Roxas was going to avoid falling for him at all costs. Besides, their whole (platonic… barely even friendly) relationship was based off of shit that happened when he was eight-going-on-nine years old. There was no way he could just magically poof up some love for the guy another eight years later, could he?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Outside the tense-aired bedroom, Sora sat between Riku and the arm of the couch, happily torturing the silveret with flirtatious 'accidental' touches and the occasional deep look in the eyes paired with an exaggerated flick of his tongue over his teeth. Part of the brunet's insides jumped happily when he watched Riku shift around uncomfortably in his seat.

It was pretty obvious what it was that he was adjusting.

"Are you going to stop eyeing him like a chocobo in heat any time soon?"

Riku twitched when Zexion's voice suddenly wisped by his right ear. Although he hated to admit it, watching Riku shift around the brunet was truly quite amusing – and Zexion tended not to find things very amusing. In his opinion, the world was simply… ironic.

With a detached humorous outlook flitting about the peripheral of his mind, Zexion turned his attention to the object of Riku's lust: Sora Esment. There was something about the boy that reminded him of his school days, something other than the fact that the lilac-haired male had once attended Sora's current educational institution. Maybe it was the hair, maybe the smile, the laugh, the voice… Something was _there_ and it was making all sorts of bells and whistles go off in his head. Being unable to place the idea was making Zexion go mad. Of course, outwardly, all anyone could see was him frowning slightly while his eyebrows wrinkled lightly in a thoughtful expression.

"Zexion?" He ignored the voice, for he had more important things to figure out. "Zexion Corazza!" No, seriously, he had more important things to think about. Maybe if he ignored it, the infernal voice would muffle itself and understand his lack of–

"SEXY ZEXY!"

"What?" he responded with a groan. When he turned to his left to face the source of the voice, he suddenly realized he was alone on the couch with the brunet teen. "Where is Gallagher?"

Sora eyed him with a playful, reprimanding expression on his face. "You mean Riku? Oh, he left to go use the restroom about… ten minutes ago, and I'm getting bored." Sora glanced over to the monochrome digital clock that was hanging in the kitchen. "Actually, make that fifteen."

"_Actually_," a voice from behind the couch interjected, "it was more like fourteen." The pair looked up to see Riku resting his chin on his folded arms across the back of the couch. With a mischievous glint in his eye contact with the silveret, Zexion noted that his face was looking considerably flushed, his voice was a little brighter, and his hair was slightly more disheveled than normal.

"Take care of _business_, did you?"

And to his comment, Riku only smirked.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Roxas wanted to cry. No, wait, he wanted to scream. Or did he want to run? What did he want? He was sitting alone in a room on a bed with Axel, and currently having one of the most uncomfortable yet interesting conversations of his life. The plain white cloth beneath his fingers was smooth, clean (but worn), and warm to the touch. The undeniable scent of cigarettes and vanilla pressed into every sense on Roxas's body; the smell clung to every solid and gaseous substance in the area. He wasn't sure about how to react to that knowledge… Roxas had always been clean and sober and, as far as he knew, so was Sora (but Demyx was questionable; Demyx is _always_ questionable).

He shook that thought out of his head and began in a new direction.

What kind of person was Axel? No drinking after that night when he was still a teenager, yet he smoked. He wanted to become a pyrotechnician, but – according to Sora – he was working at a café and didn't start college until last year. With all the information floating around in his head, there were too many questions that wanted to get out, too much swirling confusion in his reasoning. Therefore, Roxas simply gave up.

The longer he sat there, the more it felt like Axel's eyes were dissecting him, like there was an imaginary razor blade or scalpel cutting away at the fogging curtains he held against himself. It was like he was open and naked for the world to see, and Roxas hated the feeling of being displayed to the world. It only sparked paranoia… until Axel began speaking.

"Why are you so awkward around me?"

The question came from nowhere, and even though Roxas hated random questions (mainly because Demyx asked them too often in the days of their youth), he somehow felt inclined to answer.

"What?" he asked, his voice conveniently cracking slightly at the end. He coughed and tried again, this time getting the word out without any mishaps. If anything, it was embarrassing to have his voice crack in front of Axel when he was keeping up his 'cool and calm' face up for the time being. Why couldn't he be like his other classmates whose voices were cracking less and more developed?

"You," the redhead chuckled, watching Roxas. "You're awkward around me."

"Where the hell did that come from? No, I'm not!"

He glared angrily at the redhead in protest. Axel turned around in the bed, the sound of rustling sheets forcing Roxas's gaze that had dropped to the floor to meet his own. When Roxas looked up, Axel just grinned.

"I still think you're awkward," the redhead stated plainly. Roxas pouted at his words. Something in the air was just setting him off today, and that troubled him.

Instead of dwelling too much about the tension between him and Axel, the blond simply sat and let his mind fall into a porous default, as if everything the redhead said somehow fell into his memory and clung on for dear life. Judging by the shadows along the floor, the blond teen guessed that he'd been in the room longer than an hour now. Within that hour he'd learned a few basics about the redheaded man, none of them pertaining to his likes and dislikes but rather his person.

Already Roxas could tell Axel didn't mind silences – in fact, Axel's silences were never awkward and nor did they seem to be a bad sign. Roxas figured silence simply meant that he was thinking or enjoying the moment (the latter truthfully happening more often than not). Second, Roxas now knew about the basics of Axel's personality. Without meaning to, the blond had found himself analyzing the redhead like he was just another character in a book. He read Axel's actions and the expressions on his face as if he were a character that had come to life. There was something in the air about him that simply came out and spoke to Roxas in a calm, clear voice that "this is me and I hope you're okay with it (and if you're not than you've gotta learn to suck it up, princess!)".

Luckily, he was okay with it.

Well, only to a certain extent. It was really starting to grate on his nerves.

"Okay, so what about the drinking? There's no alcohol at this party, even though the majority _are_over legal drinking age now."

"I don't drink and neither to Zexion and Riku."

"You guys are _sober_?" Roxas exclaimed. _And who is 'Zexion'?_

Axel let out barking laugh. "Yeah! What, did the tattoos throw you off?" he joked. "Oh, and no drugs n' shit either, because Zexion made sure of that even though Riku and I were at Hollow Bastion High when he went to Twilight Academy."

"But what about you smoking?" The moment those words met his ears, Roxas looked down at the carpet, embarrassed. He grew up with Sora always telling him not to judge people… and here he was, judging people.

"Smelled that in my room, did you?" Roxas nodded, still looking away. Axel continued talking. "Yeah… nasty habit I picked up from Hanekoma – my boss – after I graduated high school." It was silent for a few moments and Roxas began pouting. "Hey now, don't go making that face… You might just start looking endearing instead of pesky!" To this, the blond huffed, gave the older male a glare and looked away annoyed. Axel leaned over and ruffled his hair with a laugh.

Without trying to, the two lapsed into the fourth or fifth silence since the beginning of their interaction. After a few more annoyingly silent minutes, the younger male finally took the initiative and looked up from the spot on the floor to Axel, who was propped up into a sitting position against the headboard of the bed.

Axel didn't meet his gaze, but instead allowed himself to be observed by the blond. All in all, Axel had quite an attractive face. Regardless of that fact that Roxas had already met him twice, his judgment had been clouded on both occasions. Because of the anger he'd felt when Sora had betrayed him (even though it no longer felt like a betrayal), Roxas failed to truly appreciate the finer points of the redhead's genetic makeup, the way his jaw was so perfectly straight, how his pale skin seemed to be unmarked by teenage acne scars, and the way Axel's eyelashes weren't curved upward and feminine like his, but rather slanted downward and flicking up gently at the tips as if in permanent, half-lidded, lustful allure.

Shaking the observations aside, he took in a small breath and initiated conversation.

"So… do you think you're ready to leave the room?"

Axel just looked up. Wordlessly, the redhead stood up and went directly to his smoothly painted black dresser to pull out a pair of loose, folded jeans. Slipping the pants on with his right leg stepping through first, Axel turned and faced Roxas.

"Do I look decent?"

Once again, the blond's attention was drawn to Axel's perfect, pale chest.

Roxas grudgingly accepted the older male looked more than "decent" (and probably always would). Digging his nails into the palm of his hands, Roxas fought off the blush that was slowly approaching his cheeks and managed out a straight, "maybe you should put a shirt on" before Axel noticed. The redhead followed his order by pulling out a black wifebeater from his top dresser drawer and sliding it over his graceful form. Then, without any change in his outward expression, Axel made his way over to Roxas's side and pulled the younger male up by his forearm. As soon as Roxas got to his feet, the taller male turned away and made a straight walk to the unlocked door. With a momentary flicker of a head turn back, he smiled.

"Let's get our asses out there now, shall we?"

Without saying a word, Roxas followed him out of the room, his eyes trailing back down to Axel's hips at the word 'asses'. As soon as he realized where he was looking, Roxas mentally shook himself into awareness and averted his eyes, blushing. Maybe it would be better to just get out there as fast as possible. With more going on around him, Roxas might stand a fighting chance against Axel's low-riding jeans and skinny, but lightly muscled frame.

But that wasn't the main reason why he needed to be outside, right? Besides, the contrast of Axel's hair against the whiteness of the walls and randomly black furnishings was becoming a bit overwhelming.

The moment Roxas stepped out of the room, he was met by a series of whooping catcalls and a devious smirk from both his brother and Riku. Without stopping to look for his brother, Roxas went straight to the cooler. A blond with a beanie dressed in skater clothing read his mind and tossed him a sweating, cold water bottle. Roxas smiled gratefully and popped open the cap to take a chug.

After his thirst was quenched, Roxas made his way back to what he had mentally designated the "living room space" of the residence. Next to the pair on the couch, he noted a previously unseen silver-purple-haired male quietly sipping water out of a bottle. A thought flickered across his mind that this man looked out of place in the party setting, but he took no note of it as he gravitated toward his brother and the lecherous silveret on the couch. With his mental attention gravitating toward said lecherous silveret, he noted with mild irritation that Riku was almost sitting on the purple-haired stranger's lap.

With a small shock, he realized that particular stranger looked familiar outside of the pre-party set-up. Roxas just couldn't place him… yet.

He shook his head rid of the thought and sat down silently atop the coffee table placed beside the couches. Now that he had passed over the initial shock of entering the humble (or not) abode, the blond teen was able to take in his surroundings, all of which he only noted as pristine white. Was it just him or did _everything_ in the damn flat just scream clean and neat? Although he lived in a high-class part of Twilight Town, it didn't mean he was accustomed to such precision.

The entire living space was one giant room save for a restroom located adjacent to the kitchen area and the five other doors that led to four separate bedrooms and another bathroom. Next to the restroom adjacent to the kitchenette was what Roxas assumed was a storage closet due to the slim, white door that was shut in its frame. He only knew the house's layout because he'd spent the entire pre-party preparations becoming acquainted with his surroundings rather than the people. That had irritated Sora somewhat, but Roxas didn't mind – Sora could do some good with a bit of irritation now and then.

Roxas surveyed the room once more, noting how even though it contained a good sized amount of people both his age (why were they even _there_?) and older, it seemed quite spacious. Honestly, he couldn't fathom how the three roommates were paying for the place by themselves. He hoped the cash flow had nothing to do with illegal activities.

Roxas shuddered and shifted his thoughts away from that dark alleyway in his mind, and he began observing the visual accents around him. He realized with another small shock that as for artwork, the place wasn't exactly bare. He hadn't come into contact with any audible complaint from Sora about the décor, so he figured his twin approved. It wasn't like he was the one born with the artistic eyes, ears, or hands; it wasn't like he was the one who could create music or visual beauty. All Roxas had was an over-analytical mind that sometimes crapped out on him when he needed words the most. Count on his drunk-ass mother to pass all her talent onto his siblings and leave him out of the deal…

His musings were interrupted as a voice called out to him from the couch.

"Finally come outta the closet, eh?" Riku smirked. "A few minutes longer and Angel might go home thinking you could be pregnant!" Instead of laughing, both males on either side of the silveret glared. Putting his hands up in an I-surrender-please-don't-eat-me manner, Riku smiled nervously and excused himself from the situation. Taking advantage of the new seating arrangement, Sora pulled Roxas down into the vacant spot and then ordered Axel to sit down on the single couch beside them.

Roxas didn't know how to react. Although his frame was smaller than Riku's, he was still very much pressed with his back flush against the lilac-haired stranger's arm. He looked behind him with a sidelong, casual glance, and began instantly freaking out internally once he turned back around – that man looked so cold and still it made Roxas question the affectivity of his own mask of indifference. Actually, now that he had seen the stranger at a closer range, he noted the man's hair looked something more like the color of jacaranda or wisteria… perhaps thistle? It wasn't important though, as the man suddenly murmured in his ear:

"Would you kindly shift away from my physical vicinity and lean on your brother?"

"Sorry." He slid away quickly and pressed himself closer to Sora, who instantly stood up the moment Roxas neared him. Without saying a word, the short brunet teen grabbed onto Axel's arm and hoisted the redhead into a standing position. The moment Axel gained his balance, Sora whisked him off in the direction of the kitchenette and sat him down at the table.

Ignoring his being abandoned, Roxas simply took up the cushion and turned to the purple-haired man, stating quite bluntly: "I've met you before." This was met with a raise of the eyebrow – which was unexpectedly _attractive_ – and a slight upturn of one corner of the other man's lips.

"I'm Zexion Corazza – the smart one." Roxas cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "I'm the one that keeps them all in check," Zexion amended. "Is that more passable?"

Roxas laughed. "Yeah, that sounds better. I'm Roxas, by the way, but you probably already know that." To this, Zexion nodded. "I'm… the writer of the family," he admitted, not knowing why he divulged this information. He was grateful he did, because the moment the words left his lips, a spark lit in Zexion's eyes.

"Really?" he smiled softly. "Please, do go on…"

And with that small encouragement, Roxas began speaking.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"So," Sora began the instant he sat down at the kitchen table, "tell me about yourself, Axel."

"I thought you already knew all about me. Ya know, with the whole 'you're Akuseru Flynn, age twenty-two, sophomore at Radiant Garden University, works at the WildKat Café on Cat Street with an interest in pyrotechnics and blond boys named Roxas' stunt you pulled first time we met."

The brunet looked at him like he had sprouted a six-fingered hand from his forehead.

"You remembered all that?" Sora asked, incredulous.

"Got it all memorized up here, baby." Axel tapped a finger to his temple and leaned across the table to grin. Sora pouted.

"Don't call me 'baby'."

Axel laughed and leaned back in his chair. He did the same fingertip to head motion and grinned, "I got it memorized." Sora stared at him, narrowing his eyes in a mix of humorous and annoyed tension. Without flinching, Axel got up and plucked a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Seriously," the teen warned, "you should stop saying that. I have a short fuse."

Axel took a swig from the bottle and wiped his mouth on the back of his right hand. "Really? Then how do you put up with Gallagher?"

Sora sighed and rested his head on his arms. From his pocket, he pulled out his buzzing blue phone. The screen read 'Piece of Hot Ass'. Sora flipped open the phone to see a picture message from Riku showing the silveret sprawled out on his bed – shirtless and teeth bared seductively – along with the message _Want a bite?_ under the picture. From the angle of the shot, it was obvious someone else was in the room. When he scrolled further down the message on his screen, the words _Courtesy of Joshua Kiryu and Neku Sakuraba _trailed closely behind. Sora laughed wholeheartedly as he glanced over and saw Joshua wink at him from across the large, open room.

Momentarily distracted, Sora barely managed out his next question: "Is that what you and Sexy Zexy call him?"

"Naw," the redhead responded after he'd turned around to see Joshua's wink, "just Sexy over there… I only call him by last name when I feel like being a pompous asshole." Axel paused, his eyes growing wide. "He lets you call him Sexy Zexy?"

"Yeah," Sora answered as he looked over to Joshua and Neku once more. The silver-haired teen imitated a subtle pelvic thrust motion that made Neku's face flush slightly, which was followed by a quick but light punch to his arm. He simply laughed it off like it didn't mean anything.

The lanky redhead sat down, stretching his legs under the table as he let out an impressed sigh. Sora raised an eyebrow at the exhale of breath, his facial expression demanding an answer.

"Ya know, it took years for Zexion to let us even pass by the 'Zexy' phase… I still don't get to have Sexy attached to the beginning either."

"You called him that just now, Akuseru," Sora pointed out with a small laugh. That laugh, however, disappeared as soon as Axel gritted his teeth.

"Well, it's just cuz it's not to his face. And don't call me 'Akuseru'… got it memorized?"

Sora nodded with a more apologetic smile and began texting Riku.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

All in all, the party wasn't so bad. Axel got Happy Birthday sung to him and then Riku smashed the birthday boy's slice of cake into his face, smearing it all across his front side and then taking a lick away at the spots where Axel's tattoos were on his cheek. From then on, Joshua got every major moment captured by his cell phone camera and promised to upload the images onto his computer as soon as he could to start an email chain amongst the partygoers. By the end of the party, Sora had the numbers of Neku (Phones), Joshua (The Composer – the silveret had insisted on this name), Sanae Hanekoma (Boss Man), and Zexion (Sexy Zexy) stored in his phone. For everyone else, the brunet had a sheet of paper tucked away in his pocket listing their numbers.

It was nearing 9:30 pm when the Esment twins were forced to leave. The stars were barely out, but everyone else kicked them out of the three friends' house, each of them saying something along the lines of "it's dark outside and you two live in Twilight Town" or "we don't want your pretty little asses getting molested because you were out a little long" and even "get the fuck out before Riku molests _you_".

(That last one had been Axel and Joshua ganging up on Sora – it was also the last motivation needed to get the twins out of the house.)

Now, the brothers sat side by side on the train. While Roxas gazed out the window of the train, Sora sat leaning against him, texting. The blond didn't mind though, because he could tell his twin was physically spent.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Sora murmured into Roxas's neck as he closed his phone and snuggled closer to his brother. Roxas didn't say anything and continued staring out the window.

No, it really wasn't so bad. Roxas didn't know what he had expected, but what he got was satisfactory in the end. Actually, the biggest shock he had received that evening was that Axel was genuinely pleasant to be around. In all honesty, Roxas didn't usually _like_ people. His first impression of Axel (excluding the childhood encounter) was a mixture of physical attraction and nervous annoyance, but he attributed those thoughts to being one hundred percent caught off-guard. Now that he had actually spent time with the redhead, Roxas could truthfully say that he might be on the way to enjoying Axel's company.

Well, both Axel and Zexion.

He didn't exactly _like_ Riku right now, especially since he went parading around the party shirtless some short time after Roxas and Axel exited the bedroom. Yes, the silveret had the body of an Olympian demigod, but he didn't have to go around parading it for the world to see! Besides, it seemed like everyone there was either taken, straight, too young, or uninterested. Roxas grinned at the thought. Content with his current state of being, he pulled Sora's free hand toward him and began playing with the brunet's fingers. Sora reciprocated by placing a brushed kiss on the back of Roxas's hand before allowing his brother to continue.

It was only three minutes before something happened that shook his entire night apart.

"Hey, you two fags, get offa each other before I hafta beat your fruity asses back to whatever sick planet you came from!"

Suddenly, Roxas and Sora both looked up to see three angry college students around them. Each of the three was definitely bigger than Roxas or Sora could ever grow up to be. Suddenly, the realization that they were addressing the twins made Roxas's mouth go dry. He turned and looked at Sora only to see that his twin wore a cocky grin on his face that looked scarily similar to the one Riku had held on his features all throughout the party.

"What, pansy boy? Have something to say?"

Sora's cocky grin grew into a smirk as he responded: "You gentlemen seem to be mistaken. This is my twin brother and I'm not gay."

"Your _twin_?" one of them sneered. "Liar, you guys don't even look alike!"

Sora's smirk grew into a freezing expression Roxas had rarely seen on the brunet's face before. "We're dizygotic twins, dumbass. Or is that word too big for you? Maybe you'll better understand 'colloquially _fraternal_ twins'? Or do I have to dumb it down and spell it out three times? We're N-O-N-I-D-E-N-T-I-C-A-L twins." At that, the three men looked at Sora like he was some sort of freak. "I'm sorry," the brunet chuckled, "can you not spell?"

Through the entire speech, each of the three men grew slowly angrier. Sora's last statement set the trio off, but one quick glance up told Roxas that they were approaching Twilight Town. Sora was just buying them time before they could get home.

"So it's twincest now?" the biggest of the three spat. "That's fucking disgusting!"

Sora rolled his eyes like he was annoyed, but his hand gripped down on Roxas's, giving away the nervous dread that was pulsing in his chest. The electronic female voice announced that they_would soon be approaching Twilight Town_.

"You've never heard of platonic love before, have you?" Sora retorted.

"What's that, some kinda code word for flaming fucking faggot?" Roxas gritted his teeth and glared up at the man who'd said this.

The train slowly rolled to a stop. Summoning up all the courage he could muster, Roxas shouted: "it means non-romantic love, douchebag!"

With those last words, the twins ducked out through the slight openings on either side of the trio's arms and bolted out the closing doors of the train. Before the three realized what happened, Sora and Roxas were already pounding the pavement with their feet, carrying themselves as far as they could go. Once they reached the halfway mark between their house and the station, the twins grabbed onto each other to slow down.

"That," Sora panted the moment their paces slowed to the speed of a walk, "was too fucking close for my taste."

Roxas took Sora by the hand like they did when they were children and pulled his brother closer to himself. The brunet smiled and pulled Roxas along down the sidewalk home. The blond smiled back and sighed.

"At least we're safe."

* * *

Alright, so I have a list of a few fics you all need to read. (attach the following number/letter combination to the end of the generic fanfiction dot net link!)  
**Kingdom Hearts:**  
"Rain Shadow", by Nitlon (SoRiku)- /s/4815448/  
"Capillary Action, And Other Ways to Defy Gravity", by paintthesilence (SoRiku)- /s/4866618/  
**Harry Potter:**  
"A Year's Temptation", by Lomonaaeren (HP/DM)- /s/3516978/

I find this to be a very important announcement: **Between the dates of June 15 to June 24, 2009, I'll be at U.C. Berkeley attending a Forensic Science program. If anyone else is going, I'd love to hear from them! Message me, please? :)**

If you've already reviewed this chapter, you can sign out and use the Anonymous Review feature to leave a review. Doesn't take long, I promise!

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	5. Why I Love

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix. Damn. -pout-

Heading for California tomorrow! Hopefully I'll have time to write while I'm there.  
I scored straight A's on my finals and ended up with two B's for my semester grades, so no tablet for me. D:

* * *

**Call** **Me**  
Why I Love…

"Sora, get off your lazy butt and come over here!"

"But, it's so _early_," the brunet groaned. "I wanna sleep…"

"You'll get plenty of sleep later. Plus, you already promised me months ago that you'd go." Sora turned over in his bed and pulled his blanket over his face. "You don't even have to run; people walk at these things all the time, so… Sora, just come with me, please!"

The brunet snuggled closer into his pillow, but unfortunately for him, his brother spotted the avoidance and promptly sprung into annoyance. This was the last straw as Roxas climbed up the ladder to Sora's sleeping space, clothes in hand and scowl on face. The moment the blond's knees met the wooden flooring, he reached forward and yanked the blanket away from Sora's body, causing his twin to roll off the mattress and fall against the wall.

"Sora!" the blond barked. "Get your lazy ass up and come to the run with me!"

Grudgingly, the brunet sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm up now, Rox, but I still think you're crazy for wanting to do the six mile run. Why can't you just do the three mile with me?"

"Because," Roxas sighed, "I'm on the track team and doing only three miles is an insult to my lifestyle. Now, put these on and meet me in the dining room, you lazy ass."

"Fine," he agreed as he caught the clothes Roxas had thrown at him.

Roxas made his way back down the ladder and through the bedroom door. He walked out into the curved hallway and made a right to the living room. Sora joined him soon after and the two quickly ate a light breakfast consisting of a banana, a small portion of cereal, and one slice each of peanut butter on toast.

"I hate wearing your stupid exercise shirts! They always feel too tight," Sora complained as they stepped into the elevator on their floor and descended. "Seriously, Roxas, what are you made out of?"

"Skin, muscle, internal organs, cartilage, and bone – why?"

Sora snickered. "Because I had no idea all that could fit in such a tight space!" Roxas made a motion to swat at him, but Sora nimbly dodged out of the way. The brunet's eyes gleamed mischievously as he turned to Roxas and chuckled: "Hey, that's what she said." The blond simply rolled his eyes and stepped out the elevator doors.

"Oh, shove it."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The train became swarming as more and more people seemed to gather at each stop on the way to Radiant Garden. The annual run for the children's hospital in Hollow Bastion took place near the college where room was plentiful and youth often attended events closer to home. Roxas had gone every year with Kairi, but with everyone about to begin their senior year, the brunette was home sending out the last of her college applications and polishing up her University of Atlantica and North Atlantic University applications to perfection. When asked about her choice, she had merely stated that as close as Twilight Town is to the beach, she would much rather study marine biology at one of the island schools.

Being stuck here with Sora was going to suck ass.

_Suck it up, Princess_, he scolded himself internally. _At least he's getting exercise and I still get to go this year._

Finally, the train reached Radiant Garden and the blond teen shook his twin awake. The two exited the train and quickly weaved their way through the crowd until they broke free to the surface roads.

"Where to, Rox?"

"Just follow me and don't get lost."

Sora began to protest, but the blond walked off without a second look back. He could feel his twin behind him in the crowd, following close and preventing any unwanted gasps of "it's the Esment twins!" from any of their schoolmates who happened to be at the event. By the time they got to the race site, they were forty-five minutes early. Roxas look a quick survey of the area and took Sora by the hand to drag him off to the registration booth.

After they were ready – chips on shoes, numbers pinned to their clothes, water bottles in hand, and shoes laced and ready to go (not to mention bladders empty, thank _God_) – the two wandered at a leisurely pace toward the starting line and stood beside a scruffy-looking tree.

While Roxas cycled through his usual pre-run stretches, Sora looked around and pulled out his cell phone from the pocket of his red sports shorts.

"Who are you texting, Sor?" the stretching teen asked as he watched his brother tap away on the keys at a maddening pace.

"No one," the brunet grinned. Roxas doubted it.

"Whatever you say," he sighed as he began bending over to stretch the back of his calves and hamstrings as thoroughly as possible, pressing his palms to the ground and bending his arms slightly lower to achieve an effective stretch. Roxas groaned lightly at the pulling sensation in the back of his legs before readjusting his body and shifting his body weight to the sides of his feet so to stretch the sides of his calves as well.

"Nice view there, Blondie."

Roxas's head instantly whipped up to see a cheeky Riku grinning down at him. Beside the silveret stood Axel, an amused smile on his face as he regarded the bent-over teen before him. The blond noted with slight surprise that the redhead's usually vertically-inclined hair was tied back.

"Perverts," Roxas laughed genially.

"Hey, that was all Riku, not me," Axel protested, his hands going up in the 'please don't shoot me' expression he often used.

"You can't deny that he has a nice ass though," Sora laughed. Roxas jumped when his brother tapped his rear with a light smack.

"Sora!" he yelped, swatting at the offending hand. The trio around him laughed. Faintly in the back of his mind, Roxas noted that Axel was wearing a blue number label, indicating he was going to be running six miles as well, while Sora and Riku had matching colors for the three-mile track.

_"The race will begin in ten minutes. The race will begin in ten minutes. I repeat: The race will begin in ten minutes. All runners for the six-mile run assemble at the starting line. All runners for the six-mile run assemble at the starting line. I repeat: All runners for the six-mile run assemble at the starting line…"_

The group looked up simultaneously at the woman carrying a set-at-blaring-volume megaphone against her lips, their mouths still and speechless. Each of them secretly wondered if there was someone in the crowd who had just then decided to jump off the bridge included in the racecourse because of the over-hyper tone the pink-haired volunteer's voice stank of.

"Guys," Riku swallowed and grinned, "I think the six-mile race is starting in ten minutes."

While Sora laughed lightly, Roxas redirected his attention and began walking off without a word, intending on getting in place before Axel could follow him. If he was going to beat his time today, he was going to do it without a social distraction.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_Okay. So he hates me._

Axel sighed and followed the short blond through the crowd of runners all pushing toward the starting line. When Riku had suddenly gotten a text message twenty minutes ago, he hadn't expected to be dragged off to meet the Esment twins at the same race he was attending. Part of the way his best friend's face had lit up told Axel that this meeting truly was a coincidence, not something planned to try to set him up with an underage boy – correction: young adult – he had met almost nine years ago.

Axel scoped out for Roxas over the tops of people's heads, finally spotting the blond runner up near the front of the crowd. Using his height to his advantage, the redhead pushed through the crowd until he was standing next to Roxas.

"So you're a runner, eh?" The blond looked up, surprised, and nodded. "You on the track team at school?" Another nod. "Ya know, I heard that Twilight Academy has a really great track team."

"We're regional champions five years straight," Roxas murmured.

"You go to Twilight Ac?" Axel exclaimed, somewhat shocked. "Smart _and_ rich… What a combination."

Roxas glanced up at the older male's expression. "Why are you so surprised? Do I look like an ignorant dumbass? And wasn't T.A. Zexion's alma mater?" Axel laughed.

"Slow down with the questions there, Roxas. And, yeah, it's his alma mater… but Zexion's a_Corazza_. He gets into great social and educational institutions because of his genetics."

"I thought genetics didn't determine things like that."

Axel chuckled at the teen's skeptical expression. "It's a bit of him taking after his parents, I suppose. They're doctors, you know – smart parents. They really pushed education on him and made him a hard worker, not to mention his dashing good looks. Attractive people tend to be more successful in life, don't you know?" Now the blond was staring at him like he was crazy. Great.

"The race is going to begin in two minutes, but first, a quick speech from the hospital's director, Mr. Corazza!"

Axel watched Roxas's face flicker into recognition at the name. Honest to god, it was great seeing how all of a sudden a bright light seemed to glow from the under skin of all of the younger male's slighter features.

Axel averted his attention toward the raised platform above the crowd's head to watch Zexion's dad present his speech.

_"First, I'd like to say it's great to see the sheer number of people who showed up today to raise funds for our research, raise awareness for our cause, and support the children's hospital sector of Hollow Bastion General Hospital. All proceeds will go to the research we are now conducting on infantile diseases and their cures. Today, you are more than just nationally involved; you are globally involved. On behalf of the entire staff and board of our fine institution, I thank you all."_

The crowd cheered as Dr. Corazza stepped back from the platform and the pink-haired volunteer took her previous place.

_"Everyone ready?"_ she called out to the crowd. _"Ten… Nine…"_

A chorus of voices joined her in the countdown. Axel's eyes flickered down to the blond standing a few inches in front of him. The younger male's face was brimming with excitement as he shouted along with the voices around him.

"I'll race you," he challenged the blond.

Breaking his count, the teen grinned back. "You're on."

"… _Three…Two… One!"_

The crowd took a unison breath and suddenly, the front of the line was off. Axel began at a leisurely pace that failed to match the steady _crunch, crunch, crunch _of Roxas's sneakers against asphalt. The speed worked well for his long legs as he took strides so far off-beat from Roxas's that people would probably think their running near each other at matching speeds for a prolonged period of time was just a coincidence. Just as Axel was ready to admire the younger runner's form, the redhead stopped and reminded himself that it was now a race…

And Flynns _never_ lose. Time to get his head in the game.

(Too bad Esments love competition.)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Thirty minutes later, far away and chattering at the start line, Riku and Sora looked out to the stretch of wide, closed-off road before them. The older male now had his silky silver locks tied back low on the nape of his neck.

"Do you think they're bonding?" Sora asked.

"Probably." Riku grinned and shifted his weight from hip to hip. "It's nice to know they finally have something in common, ya know?"

"Yeah."

Sora didn't bother turning to Riku anymore when they spoke and instead opted to stare up at the sky with his arms propped behind his head, much like how he acted around Roxas. In all honesty, it was refreshing to be around someone older than him (who wasn't an acquaintance of Demyx's) for a change. If Sora was in a particularly good mood, he might have admitted that it was comforting that members of society like Zexion, Axel, and Riku had accepted his personality like he was one of their equals. As far as he knew, he was just as devious as any of the trio could be on a good day – and he had a sneaking suspicion that his observations were based off only the tip of the iceberg.

His attention turned toward Riku as he began to speak again.

"It's getting colder," the silveret commented off-handedly. The moment the words left his lips, Sora looked back up, instantly feeling the slight cooling sensation once the silveret had pointed it out.

"It's also getting closer to autumn," he sighed dreamily. Sora could've sworn that he'd seen Riku's ear twitch up excitedly at the sound of Sora's sigh, but the brunet was unsure. Could this be a _real_sign of interest? He knew what the difference between play flirting and real flirting was, what slight attraction versus beginnings of an infatuation looked like, and Riku was beginning to cross the line from platonic into romantic. Sora couldn't risk that…

"Angel likes autumn, eh?" Riku smiled. "That's great. I personally like spring more. Summer's my second favorite season."

"Yeah?"

Sora took his arms down from behind his head and instead stretched them in front of his body. From his peripheral, he saw Riku's smile widen a fraction. He was pretty sure it was from the way his body stretched when the cloth of his shirt was stretched tight across his back.

"Yeah."

"Why?" Sora ventured.

Riku smiled and trained his gaze down to the space directly before his feet. "With spring, my body always feels lighter. There's this 'fresh start' quality that comes with the air. Plus, I know I can look forward to the summer. Everything's so much brighter in the summer; it's so bright I feel like I'm on some sort of tropical island. It's a wonderful to be able to look forward to relaxation and new beginnings.

"Makes me kind of miss high school. Once you get older, you don't really feel much of a change between summer and the rest of the year. Work is an all-year thing and the only real notice you get that it's summer is more kids around you during the day and the sunlight getting sweltering hot."

"That's pretty cool, I guess…" Sora smiled. "I still like autumn better, though."

"Really?" Riku laughed. "Please, do tell why, Sora. I'd like to see if it's quialities could sway my adoration of the spring."

Sora turned and grinned at Riku. "I accept your challenge. In fact, I'm going to spend some time coming up with an answer so I can't lose."

"Shouldn't there be a prize?" The other male tapped his chin thoughtfully and looked up at the sky.

"Oh, definitely. What's your wager?"

Riku paused for a moment and looked down at his moving feet. "If… No, never mind."

The teen followed his face, curious. The silveret's eyebrows were lowered in concentration and he couldn't raise his head again to meet Sora's gaze. Deciding that there was no alternative method to find out what Riku was thinking, Sora tried asking again.

"What, Riku?"

"You don't want to know," he sighed, embarassment evident in his tone. Sora stopped in front of him, crossing his arms in expectation, silently demanding an explanation. "Sora… Are you sure?"

"Yes." It was only genuine curiosity that made him want to know what the silveret had in mind. The way he was so obviously reluctant to speak sparked something inside Sora that made him want to search and discover. But what Sora didn't expect was for his biggest fear to come true, because once Riku parted his lips and spoke, there was no going back. There would be no way for Sora to pretend that he'd never heard, realized, or acknowledged the silveret's desires.

"If I win…" He hesitated, cleared his throat, and continued in a whisper, "If I win, you go on a date with me."

Sora froze.

"I-I… I have to _what_?"

He wasn't supposed to say that. Riku _wasn't_ supposed to say that. Riku Gallagher wasn't supposed to _say_ that_._

Suddenly, a mild sweep of nausea invaded Sora's body, replacing the shock at every place it met. The ground wobbled beneath his feet and Sora felt as though he was walking in a dazed dream. His body felt too light, too dizzy, and… too happy? What is this? Wasn't Sora feeling nauseous only a few seconds before? No, this wasn't making any sense. These feelings of nervous excitement couldn't be real, because… all because…

He wasn't supposed to say that.

Riku suddenly laughed, clapping the brunet on the back. The force knocked him forward a couple paces, but Sora quickly recovered and eyed Riku strangely. The sound of Riku's laugh felt off.

"N-nothing, Sora; it was just a joke!"

As the words left Riku's lips, the feeling of dizziness calmed and the spinning slowly flowed away. The green feeling creeping up his esophagus stopped and slowly thinned down into nothing while the mild shaking that began during the silence slowly calmed to a point where the two looked like they were just sharing a normal, lightly eventful walk.

"Thank God," the brunet breathed. "I don't know what I would've done if you were serious…"

Too wrapped up in his own thoughts and relief, Sora didn't notice the crestfallen look that overcame Riku's features.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

An hour into the race, the pair had fallen into a steady rhythm. They had lapsed into their runners' highs and were motivated heavily off of the endorphins pulsing in their brains. Roxas's breathing was heavy, even, and labored. He could feel the burn in his lungs – that luxurious fire in his chest made his entire being feel _alive_. It was like nothing could stop his feet from pounding into the asphalt of the closed-off road, like nothing could stop him from running so far he'd lap the earth twice around before collapsing asleep inside calm, rocking ocean waves.

Next to the blond was another body, running just as hard, but with longer strides that pounded to a different beat.

Thump-Th-Thump. Thump-Th-Thump. Thump-Th-Thump.

For every two of Axel's steps, Roxas took three. It was like listening to triplets in music, like three beats being evenly squashed into the space meant for two. Roxas liked the way it felt: off, yet meshing like organized chaos. It was hypnotizing.

Roxas continued running wordlessly, listening as he conformed his breathing to match Axel's. Twice through the nose, twice out the mouth, twice through the nose, twice out the mouth, twice through the nose, twice out the mouth… His body was in some sort of rhythmically awkward composition. Thoughts of his older brother, Demyx, a musical genius, playing chords on their piano and slapping away at various sonorous surfaces of their house to create beats filled his mind.

The pair turned the corner around the park pond and suddenly the bright green and white balloon archway of the finish line was directly visible. Ahead of them were the competitive runners of the race, panting and checking their watches for their times. Roxas glanced to his left, his eyes locking with Axel's. They'd been running in slight tandem for far too long now. It was time for a change of pace. There was a notion in the older male's celery-green orbs that told Roxas that Axel wasn't a pushover. Before Roxas could question his actions, he challenged the redhead.

"Race you now."

With a grin, Axel accepted. The thrill of competition infested his veins and Roxas kick-stepped into overdrive. Now, for three of Axel's steps, Roxas took nearly seven. His legs pumped quickly, achingly, as he met the ground so forcefully that runners around him were looking at him like he was crazy. Roxas didn't care though, because he was _running_.

Just as he was about to cross the finish line, Roxas felt a sweeping motion capture his legs from under him. He cried out in alarm, but silenced himself when he looked up to see none other than Axel cradling his body close, carrying him bridal style. The redhead's face was set into a cocky grin of triumph as he ran past the finish line, arms full of Roxas. Leaning down, Axel laughed, his breaths falling upon Roxas's cheek.

"Now no one wins and no one loses."

The teen's already flushed face reddened for a different reason once a few of the volunteers on the sidelines catcalled and a camera flashed. Trying to hide his face, Roxas turned toward Axel's sweat-soaked chest and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hey Roxas?" The blond peeked up curiously from where his face was buried against Axel's chest. "Can you not do that? Your breathing tickles my stomach."

Embarrassed, Roxas turned away and coughed. "Then put me down," he muttered back. Axel quickly complied, marching over to a bench and easing Roxas down onto the seat. The redhead then took the spot beside him and leaned back, looking at the sky. After a few moments of silence between the pair, Axel spoke up.

"Roxas Esment," he smiled, "you're fast."

The boy turned toward him and returned the smile with a grin. "So are you, Akuseru Flynn."

The redhead's smile morphed into a scowl as he reached over and ruffled Roxas's hair. "Don't call me that." After an extended moment of hand against head, he pulled away quickly and wiped his palm on his pants. "You're really sweaty…"

"We kind of just ran six miles. I'm _supposed_ to be sweaty – it would be a wonder if I wasn't!" Roxas rolled his eyes. "And what kind of man are you if you don't like a little bit of sweat, huh?"

Axel's eyes flared. "Questioning my masculinity, are you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I just don't like little-boy sweat."

Roxas's eyes narrowed in aggravation. "I am _not_ a 'little boy', you… y-you… you old man!" he retorted.

People all around them turned abruptly to see the commotion but took no interest in the couple. Unwilling to retort the people, Roxas let it slide. With a slight chuckle, the blond unzipped the pocket of his pants and turned on his phone. Axel stared with a faint interest while Roxas speed dialed one on his cell to call his twin. After a quick conversation confirming that Sora was ten minutes (approximately) away from Roxas, he put away the phone and turned to Axel.

"Like I was saying, Old Man, I'm not a little boy!"

"And I'm not an old man."

"Yes, yes you are," Roxas laughed, sizing him up as he lay slouched on the park bench. "You're, what, twenty-four?"

"I am," Axel smirked. "That's not old; I'm in my prime." Then, the redhead leaned closer and whispered, "I could show you if you don't believe me."

Roxas barked a laugh and shoved the redhead lightly in the side. "Pedophile," he smirked.

"You like it."

The blond leaned back, letting his head drop past the back of the bench so that his throat was exposed and his flushed face was free of all hair. From his point of view, it was an upside down world complete with men and women wandering about on the grounded sky. It was funny how Roxas noticed the way people walked at a much more detailed level when he regarded the world at an unusual angle. Everything looked so different when you flipped it.

"Perspective is everything," Roxas heard in a sigh from his left. He turned to see Axel's face mirroring his own. The redhead had tilted his head back and pulled the hair tie out of his crimson locks so that his sweat-dampened, un-spiked hair flowed in kinked waves down toward the ground.

"Hn…" Roxas agreed, stretching his body out so that his sound of consent turned into one of satisfaction. As sore as he was, a good stretch always made him feel utterly spent and pleasured.

After laying silently and enjoying the view of the clouds and pedestrians, Roxas was the first of the two to get up, popping his neck as he did so. When he recovered, he took a quick surreptitious glance over at Axel's still extended form. From what he could see, the man had a pale, taunting neck. Roxas made a small meeping sound in his throat and jumped from shock when the thought of kissing Axel tenderly along the sweaty column of flesh crossed his mind.

"Rox! Akuseru!"

The pair looked up to see Sora attempting to jog over to where they sat. The brunet held the quick pace for only a few seconds before he lapsed back into walking. Feeling a bit of pity on Sora, Axel and Roxas both stood up and limped over to meet the teen halfway.

"I am _never_ doing three miles straight again." Axel laughed and Roxas smirked.

"Will you do them gay then?" Riku murmured under his breath after the pair stopped, barely loud enough for Roxas to catch. Sora ignored him.

Sora _ignored_ him.

Roxas looked between the two uneasily, but stopped once Sora's eyes locked with his. He didn't have to ask to know that his brother wasn't exactly up for talking to Riku at the moment. A brief '_what happened?'_ thought popped across Roxas's mind, but dissipated once the silver-haired college student began speaking.

"What's up with you guys?" he asked, looking between the still-smiling couple. "I don't think I've ever seen the two of you stand so close to each other before."

Roxas's smile turned into a scowl. "He… he carried me bridal-style across the finish line. We… w-we…" Roxas blushed and continued. "We got catcalled, too."

"You should've seen his face," the redhead laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone so shocked in my life!" The group laughed and headed off toward the general direction of the main booths, each of them either limping or striding happily, sore to the bone.

It was frightening how awkward the rest of the post-run booth-wandering trip was. Sponsors of the event set up their stands everywhere, and by the end of the wandering, each of the four were returning to their respective home sporting totes filled with multiple bags of wheat chips, bottles of 'enhanced' water (which quite frankly sounded unnecessarily suspicious to Roxas), and coupons that could drown any penny-pinching mother into a blissful shock.

Then Roxas tried so hard not to make it awkward – so hard not to _notice_ – but he couldn't help it.

On the ride back to Twilight Town, Sora was completely silent.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Flynn, what happened?"

The redhead had just barely gotten out of the shower and into his room when Zexion suddenly showed up, pushed past his unlocked door, and situated himself on the taller man's mattress.

"You noticed?" he laughed. "Well, I gotta hand it to you, Zex. Picking psychology as a major was definitely a good choice for your future career path." Axel threw the towel onto the bed and began rummaging through his dresser and closet for clothes. "You're right. Something did happen."

"Details?" the lilac-haired male pressed.

Axel laughed, amused, and replied, "Your little blond friend is a bit heavier than he looks. His body is mostly lean muscle… It's ridiculous, really, how fit he his."

Zexion stared, bored, his expression demanding more of an explanation that just the simple few details the redhead had provided him with. His best friend soon read the expression and continued with his story.

"He's really fast, too, and I mean _fast_ fast. He said he was on the T.A. track team." Axel sighed and fell back on his bed, shirtless. "And, Zex?"

"Yeah?"

"… I think I was slowing him down."

At this, the shorter male's ears perked up. Axel wasn't a slow runner, so…

"Hmm."

Axel flipped over onto his stomach and eyed Zexion amusedly. "You made noise; you're impressed."

The man smiled and stood up, his eyes shining contentedly from under his sheer wave of purple hair. He nodded at Axel once, murmured something about 'Riku taking far too long in the bathroom', and left, closing the door behind him.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Riku stared down at his hands. He was sitting in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, his usually platinum hair now dripping wet and a dark shade of gray-purple. In his hands dangled his cell phone. He held the electronic device by the charm and fiddled with the little white ceramic ball, turning it over and over in his hands to watch the smiley face painted on one side of the ball switch to the angry, then sad, then confused face on the other three sides.

He'd without a doubt royally fucked up whatever it was that had been growing between himself and Sora without even knowing how. All he did was ask the boy out. There couldn't be anything wrong with that, right?

Right?

But then he retracted the offer like he'd realized he just fed the boy verbal poison.

"Riku Gallagher," he murmured to himself. "You, my friend, are an idiot."

Suddenly, the inspiration hit him. He could text Roxas and get answers from the source closest to the brunet. There wouldn't be anything wrong just a simple question, right? After all, he was just curious, like any other non-linear friend would be toward a gorgeous, physically molestable, emotionally dazzling brunet with eyes so radiant he doubted the sky would ever live up to the degree of beauty those ocean-deep, sapphire-bright orbs held.

"Shit. I'm so fucked…"

From outside the bathroom door, Zexion knocked and asked if he was okay, and then if he was done yet. Riku called back saying he just needed ten more minutes.

"It's quite fortunate on your part that you are the one keep this house clean, or else I would have kicked you out a long time ago for taking such long baths."

The silveret forced out a laugh that seemed to satisfy Zexion's worried curiosity. He listened vaguely as Zexion's footsteps led away from the bathroom door. Judging by the lack of the sound of a door closing, he assumed the lavender-haired man had taken to roost on the couch with a good book.

Riku looked back down at his phone. He was so smitten it wasn't even funny anymore. Without giving it a second thought – he wanted to avoid thinking it over and stopping himself – the man texted Roxas.

And by God, if this didn't work, then Riku didn't know what he was going to do.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

A few cities away, Roxas felt the phone in his pocket buzz. He was shopping for school supplies alone because Sora had already gone with Riku last week to pick up his supplies, and that left Roxas pacing the shelves of the office supply store alone. Pulling the device out of his pocket, he raised an eyebrow in interest when he saw Riku's name on the sender line of the text message. He stopped where he was, between the filler paper and two pocket notebook folders, and read the message.

_Is Sora straight?_

Well, that certainly wasn't what he'd expected. He thumbed back a quick response and dropped the phone back in his pocket. Roxas wasn't sure if it was good sign or not, so he shoved the thought back into his mind. No need to think about it now; procrastinating never hurt anybody.

_He's never told me if he was gay, straight, asexual, or bisexual. You'll have to ask him yourself._

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Back at Radiant Garden, Riku stared at the screen of his cell phone.

So Roxas didn't know whether or not his brother liked men or femme, eh?

Great.

Riku wrapped the towel firmer around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. Ignoring Zexion, he made along the straight path from the bathroom to his room and got ready to change. He didn't give a shit that his legs were sore as hell. All Riku wanted to do was get to the library at Hollow Bastion High and volunteer until the germs from the kids' section picture books broke past his years of built-up immune system defenses and got him so sick he could pass out in a feverish daze and forget the entire thing.

* * *

The start of school came too swiftly for Roxas's taste. The only real upside of coming back was being able to finish his senior year of high school. It wasn't like Kairi and Naminé attended the same educational institution he did, so he really didn't have very many friends at school that he really looked forward to seeing.

This year's schedule wasn't too bad, though. For the first semester, he had the required AP courses that Twilight Academy was known for along with a full year's worth of Advanced Creative Writing and a year of Men's Choir.

Neglecting to take art classes his previous three years was a stupid, _stupid_ decision. Why didn't creative writing count as an art credit?

Suddenly, Demyx's voice popped into his head: _"Art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance."_

Eww.

Roxas stared his reflection down in the bathroom mirror.

He had a love-hate relationship with his hair. Although people at the Academy always loved how rebellious his fluffy golden locks looked, he couldn't help but pout in annoyance over the fact that it hadn't changed style-wise from when he was born. No matter what he did with it, even when it was wet, it would always fall back into place like there was an invisible mould holding it in place. Eventually, he'd decided it was pointless to try fixing it. He'd just walk around everywhere cowlicks and all, but the fixture of his hair was so extreme that a lot of people thought his hair was spiked or styled when they first met him.

"Hey, So!"

"Yeah?" wafted the reply from the kitchen.

"Can you get in here? I need help with my hair."

Roxas heard a happy yelp and in .2353 seconds, Sora was standing next to him in the usual Twilight Ac. uniform of a plaid blue tie, matching pants, and crisp white button-up shirt.

"What do you want me to do with it?" the brunet asked excitedly. "Like… how extreme can I make the style?"

Roxas decided to let the brunet have free reign.

"Feeling a bit on the wild side, I see…" Sora chuckled. "All right then. Close your eyes!"

"Wait… what? Why?"

Sora rolled his eyes and went straight for his side of the bathroom sinks for his hair products. "Because I'm making us breakfast burritos and I want to make sure the sausage doesn't burn. Now. Shut ch'er eyes and pop a squat!"

Feeling compliant, Roxas did as he was told and sat down on the toilet seat cover. The feeling of Sora's hands combing the product through his hair made him feel a little more relaxed. Roxas felt little patches of his hair get pull upward and twist softly at the end. Briefly, the image of being slowly pulled into the clouds by a bundle of red balloons flickered into this mind. It was a comforting thought – random, yes, but comforting.

" 'Kay, you can open your eyes now."

Roxas opened his eyes and gazed into the mirror. Instead of seeing messy cowlicks and little flips of hair randomly sticking up, his usually disheveled spikes were now defined and all swept into the same general direction. Behind him, Sora grinned and slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Strike a sexy pose, Rox!"

The blond tilted his face at an angle and shot their reflections a crooked grin. Sora posed sultrily, flicking his tongue out to taunt and tease, into the mirror a pulled out his cell phone from behind them to snap a shot. The electronic sound of a camera going off followed quickly and Roxas almost flinched from how loud it was. Those noises were always so irritating and superfluous, it was a wonder someone hadn't smashed all the phone models that made it into pieces.

"Lemme see."

Sora saved the picture and tossed Roxas the phone as he exited the bathroom to go work on cooking their breakfast. "You know how to work it."

Roxas stepped out of the room after him, his full attention on the phone. They looked really good. Like… really, _really_ good. Who knew he and Sora could make the Twilight Academy uniforms look like _that_?

He sent the picture to his phone and handed the device back to his brother.

"Rox," Sora chuckled, "your ego's showing."

"Shaddup!" Roxas laughed back.

"C'mon, let's go. Here's your breakfast." Sora threw one of four paper towel-wrapped breakfast burritos to his brother. "Let's go meet Nami and Kai now. They should be waiting downstairs."

Roxas grabbed his sky blue and white messenger bag from where it rested next to the door and slung it in one careful motion over his shoulder, careful not to ruin the work Sora had done to make his hair look so dashing. Sora did the same, each of them passing through the door and into the small stairwell.

"Bye, dad," the pair called out into the apartment.

Sora stopped halfway out the door to pick up a letter addressed to "Aeron Caellach Esment" and placed it on the table.

"Utility bills are here, by the way."

And with that, the duo left to meet the Pannetiere sisters downstairs to catch the train line that crossed into Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion. The four met up and settled into the routine from the year before, each of them taking seats in the same general area of the train. Partway through the trek from Destiny Islands to the Sunnyside Station (by the gods, they had such stupid names for public buildings in this city), Roxas's phone had vibrated quietly against his leg. Once they were seated comfortably on the train, he flipped it open and opened the picture message.

He felt a sweep of fine blond hair fall across his shoulder. "Cute," Naminé complimented with an upturn of the lips.

"Thanks," Roxas smiled back. "Sora did it." He set the image as his phone wallpaper and looked back over to Naminé. "Do you want to take a picture?"

The blonde nodded, her eyes shining. Even though what they had was platonic love, Roxas couldn't help but enjoy the way she always regarded him with such blatant admiration. Taking her into his right arm, he snapped a quick photo of the two of them together and sent it to her.

"Hey!" Kairi called from across the aisle, her mouth full of breakfast burrito. "We want in on this too."

"Stop spraying chunks first and maybe you can get closer to him," Sora teased. The brunette laughed and bumped him in the side as he took another bite of the burrito.

Eventually, the four were engaged in a mock-photo shoot, posing on the train for ten minutes before the twins had to get off and begin their soon-to-be-daily walk to school. The girls waved animatedly as the door slid closed. Kairi nearly fell over as the train started again with a slight lurch. Roxas could almost hear her laugh as he watched her figure shaking through the glossy windows of the train's double sliding doors.

Finally, it was time for school.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Riku looked like shit. Classes at RGU were going to start in half a month and he wasn't ready for anything to start yet. Plus, the starting of classes meant the coming of autumn.

Autumn.

Sora's favorite season.

The silveret sat and contemplated the meaning of the changing of seasons; then he contemplated why he contemplated the meaning of the changing of seasons. Why all the contemplation? This wasn't like him… all this thought and over-thought was Zexion's forte, not his.

Plus, it was giving him a headache.

"Hey, 'Ku," Axel sauntered into his bedroom dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers and plopped down on the bed. "Check it out."

The redhead handed Riku his cell phone. On the screen was a picture of the Esment twins; Sora looked like the flirtatious tease he was (taunting tongue action and all!) while Roxas gave the spiciest, most badass seductive grin either of the college men had ever seen in their lives. Riku faintly remembered the way Zexion had looked in his T. A. uniform. The clothes had looked great on him, but they didn't look like… like _that_. Secretly, Riku marveled at how the twins could make the cloth look like it was worth a year's pay with a crappy cliché mirror-in-the-bathroom picture.

What would it be like if they were taking professional shots?

"There's more," Axel supplied and reached over to hit the right arrow on his cell. Next came up a picture of Roxas. His usually fluffy hair was styled up into some sort of vertical sweep that was strangely enticing and remarkable. Beside him was a slender blonde beauty smiling at the camera. The two practically shone from the whole-hearted, excited glamour glowing about their flushed faces.

_I've seen her before… but where?_

Before Riku could study her face any further, Axel hit the next button. This time, there was a group picture that included Sora and another brunette that resembled the unnamed blonde from earlier. Underneath the picture came a message caption:

_Blonde girl – Naminé Pannetiere; Brunette – Kairi Pannetiere. They're our best friends. :)_

The photo seemed so final that Riku was about to look away until Axel tapped the button for the next photo. It was a candid picture of Sora while he was talking excitedly with Kairi, showing off something in his hands. With a delighted buzz, the silveret noticed it was one of the notebooks he'd picked out for the younger male. His eyes trailed over the way Sora's hands cradled it like it was something precious and priceless. Those captivating jewel-like eyes shone so brilliantly that Riku almost fell into a daze.

He snapped out of the trance when his own phone started buzzing on his nightstand. He leaned over and flipped it open. On the screen was a picture of trees with drying leaves encircling a majestic-looking white and gray building that proudly read "Twilight Academy" and some sort of elder language phrase underneath.

Riku's attention shifted down to a spot just a little diagonally lower to the right of the center where Sora waved happily at the camera. Even though the picture was small on his phone's screen, he could see a few clusters of girls stopping around the brunet. He could have sworn that a girl with badly dyed purple and black hair was sneaking a picture with her camera phone.

He scrolled down a little further until he reached the message that accompanied the photo.

_Trees changing color: one of many reasons why I love autumn._

The grin that spread across his face was so bright that Axel knew something groundbreaking was happening:

Riku Gallagher was falling in love.

* * *

**Note!** Axel is 24, Roxas is 17. How can Roxas be 17-years-old eight years later? They both have summer birthdays and they met just before the summer when they were younger. I promise Axel, Riku, and Zexion's family situations** will be explained**.

From now on, I have decided to post a recommendation fic of the chapter. This week: **"Eromenos: The Beginning" **- /s/4273176/1/ - Best Seph/Cloud fic ever. Rated M for a good reason.

My friend's sister accidentally cut of my Zexion bangs. I was scared at first, but if I style it properly,**I have Noctis-freakin-Caelum hair! **Not bad, right?

I wish you guys could see all the comments my Beta makes! She's humorous, witty, nit-picky, and amazing at what she does! She even realized .2353 seconds added up to 13 when it was unintentional! Everyone, please give cookies and plushies to **Aindel S. Druida** for being a great Beta!

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	6. When in Doubt

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.

Thanks to Aindel S. Druida for being a great beta and putting up with all my crappy "writing". :P

[01.01.11: Looking back on all this gives me the overwhelming urge to tear my hair out. I can do better than this. Hopefully. Oh gods, what if this is me peaking right now? What if it's all downhill from here? OTL]

* * *

**Call Me**  
When in Doubt

Autumn always made Sora's insides squirm happily. After all, this meant he could begin wearing scarves and hats and stylish jackets for no reason.

Actually, scarves, hats and stylish jackets could be a problem as of this moment, because that would mean he cared about his appearance. And if he cared too much about his appearance, then people would wonder. Well, it wasn't like they weren't already, because someone had started a rumor going around school that Sora Esment was flamingly homosexual.

He didn't have a problem with gay people, of course. His twin brother was gay and his older brother was bisexual – it was in the family and he could never hate his family. Plus, he was _pretty_sure Axel and Riku were gay. Therefore, he didn't mind being near gay people.

He just minded being labeled gay.

Not that he was _straight_ either.

When he was younger, he used to have a crush on Kairi, but when she'd full on kissed him one year under the mistletoe, Sora suddenly got the feeling that he was swapping spit with his sister and had pulled back. Kairi laughed when the brunet told her and agreed; they were more likely to be best friends at each other's wedding than sharing the ceremony together. Since then, Sora hadn't felt any sort of attraction toward another human being… well, maybe except for Riku.

But: Riku's a guy; Riku has a _penis_. Sora couldn't possibly like him because Riku was male.

No, that wasn't right either, because Sora wasn't straight. At least, he didn't think he was straight. But he didn't think he was gay either, and the thought of being bisexual had never occurred to him because he quite simply had never been attracted to anyone before.

That's right. Sora Esment was unsure about his orientation.

For longer than he could remember, all Sora had done with his god-given looks was to reject anything that looked at him romantically for more than three seconds. He didn't mean to lead those people on, but Sora couldn't help that he was one of _those_ people – his actions were always overly friendly and interpreted as borderline romantic. Much to his dismay, anyone other than the Pannetiere sisters and his two brothers thought he was a heart-breaking flirt. At Twilight Academy, there were even a few misinformed students who went around calling him a lady-killer, only there for breaking hearts.

That didn't exactly help with his constantly changing self-image.

He was sure that by his junior year (last year), the entire school knew Sora had a strictly platonic-only relationship policy. In fact, people now expected him to turn down date offers to the point where even the actions of people thinking about asking Roxas out were affected by Sora's reputation. Thank goodness Roxas never hated Sora for it.

Sora had never really cared either – why bother stressing over a relationship when your sexual orientation was still in question? He'd thought about perhaps relying on his hormones and porn to give him an answer (if it goes up when his goes up, then maybe you like the extra appendage?), but the test had failed when he realized he'd been aroused by neither heterosexual nor homosexual erotica. He knew he wasn't asexual either, because – as embarrassing as it was to admit it – sometimes Sora rather enjoyed touching himself in the shower.

But that… Well, that wasn't something anyone needed to know about.

There was his Kairi phase that had been based on the perceived obligation that since they were childhood friends, their parents would want them to marry. Then there was his period of romantic abstinence that had lasted until…

_Riku_.

Sora played the freak-out card on him at the race two months ago, and now he found himself wholly regretting it. Regret was a feeling that had never followed one of his roundabout rejections before – it was altogether entirely too foreign to him. Sora had contemplated explaining his reaction to the silver-haired Adonis, but only ended up realizing he didn't know what he would want to explain. How _does_ someone go about refuting a rejection that happened months ago? How would someone even _open_ to a topic like that? To make matters worse, Riku accepted the rejection with grace and began treading lightly around Sora whenever they seemed to be having 'too much fun'.

After the first month, Riku seemed to have settled into contentment with a simply platonic relationship. The touches that used to linger on Sora's shoulders shortened by a fraction, and the way Riku used to lean over and whisper things in his ear became less intimate.

Sora had always been the friend, the brother, the son, the oh-so-popular-untouchable boy… Why couldn't he have a change for once? Here was a perfectly good opportunity for his first romance dangling right in front of him and all he did was strangle it.

Normally, he would have been grateful, but now – for some unexplainable reason – he just felt frustrated. Frustrated at Twilight Academy for treating him like a coveted treasure, frustrated at Roxas for being so good to him, at his mother for her mental instability, at Kairi for knowing what she wanted in life… and at Riku for being so fucking _perfect_.

And, apparently, the frustration was really beginning to show on his face.

"Excuse me, Mr. Esment, would you mind not scowling unnecessarily at me during my lecture? I'm well aware that many of the students here don't quite enjoy Chemistry, but avoiding making it so blatantly obvious would be well appreciated on my part."

Sora's face lit up from being thrust so suddenly into the class spotlight. He stammered an apology, and tried to ignore the puff of a smirk regarding him with amused, haughty dislike that sounded from a desk elsewhere in the room.

The moment the teacher turned back to the board, the teen sitting behind him leaned forward and murmured, "Senior year and Mr. Sora 'I'm-_so _-fucking-perfect' Esment is finally cracking, eh? Come to join the rest of our groveling kind now?"

As tempting as it was to bite back with a witty response, Sora restrained himself and sighed. Maybe it would be best to start taking those notes on combating his previous impressions of what electrons "really were".

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Hey, Esment, where are you going?"

Roxas tossed a glance behind him to see Joshua Kiryu coming from the direction of the cafeteria, holding a waxy-looking red apple in his right hand.

After they had exchanged numbers at Axel's birthday, the two teens had soon discovered that they both attended Twilight Academy. Now – thanks to Axel – there was someone else on this campus that Roxas could talk to other than his twin. Honestly, it didn't surprise him when he found out Joshua was a T.A. kid; he certainly looked rich enough, even when he was working at the WildKat. What _really_ got Roxas was the fact that Mr. Hanekoma was his foster dad and (apparently) loaded.

And even after he pestered them for a week straight, they still wouldn't tell him how he had all the money.

He decided he didn't want to know.

"To Creative Writing. Why?"

Joshua's lips upturned in one of his enigmatic smiles as he came up behind Roxas and rested his chin on the blond's shoulder.

"You didn't eat lunch, so I brought you a little snack." The silveret reached for Roxas's hand and placed the apple in it, closing the blond's fingers slowly around the fruit. "Also, I wanted to know if you were interested in joining me for the autumn celebration in Balamb Garden."

"Umm..." Roxas hesitated, chewing lightly on his bottom lip. "When? Who else is going?"

"Neku, Riku, Zexion, and Axel, tomorrow," Joshua replied, wrapping his arms around Roxas's neck from behind in a highly suggestive way (as usual). "And in case you forgot, tomorrow is Saturday, so no excuses. Now are you coming or not?"

Before he realized what he was agreeing to, Roxas acquiesced with a nod. Joshua teasingly brushed a kiss against Roxas's cheek as his arms slipped away from his neck, and Roxas was left standing at the edge of the lunchroom courtyard, a red apple in his hand, his mind suddenly filled with a nervous buzz of excitement at the prospect of seeing Axel again.

It was funny, really, how every year before this, the only friend he'd had at T.A. was his brother. Now, he had Joshua and Neku and things to look forward to on the weekend aside from hanging out with Naminé and Kairi… Who knew one simple phone call could do so much for his life?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

He made it through the school day without too much incident. As usual, he had lunch with Joshua and Roxas, but instead of talking as much as he usually did, the trio sat in near-silence. He was sure Roxas had realized something was wrong, but his suspicions were refuted as his twin got up during the middle of lunch and walked off toward his next class early, as usual. Joshua had left soon after with a polite and aloof 'excuse me', an apple in hand as he followed Roxas out of the lunchroom.

Sora didn't like it, because, suddenly, he was alone with his thoughts about Riku.

Just the period before lunch, he had overheard a few girls gossiping about him and Roxas. Normally, he would just tune them out (people often talked about him and Roxas – he'd gotten used to it), but when a certain word had drifted from their lips toward his ear, he was suddenly overcome with the urge to eavesdrop on their conversation.

_"I think Sora Esment has a **boyfriend**."_

_"Who?"_ One of the girls had asked, obviously begging for more information. Everyone's eyes were trained on the girl with the information, each of them eager and waiting with bated breath for any sort of clue as to who the mystery man was.

_"This silver-haired guy. I think he's in college."_

_"My god, that's... that's..."_

_"Wrong!"_

_"Disgusting!"_

Unable to stop himself, Sora gasped loudly and fled. Since when had people thought he had a boyfriend? No one he knew from school had ever seen him in public with Riku, so there was no way unless…

That girl from the library over the summer started the rumor.

A strangled groan forced through his throat at the prospect, falling over his tongue and into the space where he rested his tired head in his arms. He never should have agreed when Riku asked him if it was okay to bring down the girl's ego a few notches. It had sounded like such a hilarious idea at first, but (as usual) Sora hadn't been thinking about the potential consequences and had simply laughed when Riku had begun implying that Sora was talking about kinky things to do with chocolate sauce.

Now look where it got him.

In a few weeks, people would probably know him as T.A.'s resident manwhore.

Sora sighed and bowed his head. The train shook around him, bumping him constantly into Roxas who was standing next to him, chatting happily with Naminé. How could Roxas just ignore him like this? Sure, they were in a public place, but the school day was over and they were also on the ride back to Twilight Town. Couldn't he just turn around and have a quiet conversation with Sora instead of laughing with Naminé like _nothing was wrong_?

With a sigh, the brunet turned around so that he wouldn't have to watch his brother's face as he laughed with Naminé. It would be easier to confide in Demyx when he got home.

Another twenty minutes passed before the group got to their stop. Sora exited the train dragging his legs, and remained so the entire walk.

Somewhere between the station and the apartment Kairi had ended up walking beside him. A small smile sprouted upon his lips when he turned toward the brunette beside him and realized she had laced their fingers together. She leaned over and gave him a reassuring, platonic kiss on the cheek before continuing forward in silence.

The moment he got home, Sora entered their floor in a daze and made a beeline toward his and Roxas's room.

He climbed the ladder to his mattress quickly, and fell down with an exaggerated exhale.

"Hey, So."

The brunet turned around on his mattress to face his brother who had entered the room. "What?" he nearly spat out, flipping over on the mattress as he did so.

"Why are you so depressed? It's not like you."

Sora laughed humorlessly. "It is now," he huffed.

Sighing, Roxas flopped onto his bed, pulling at the plaid, sky-blue tie around his neck. Sora rolled over onto his side and watched his brother undress, waiting for the blond to throw him a pair of shorts. Couldn't Roxas see he didn't want to talk?

He'd been like this a lot lately. Calling Axel and re-introducing him to Roxas had been a good move – he'd never seen his twin so content with his life before – but because Axel now knew Roxas, Sora had been introduced to Riku Gallagher. Riku had been a great friend at first. He was easy-going, knew how to laugh at himself, took care of his hair (which in Sora's opinion was great), and was mature enough to take Sora's spontaneous bouts of immaturity in stride, but-

'But' what?

"Liar," Roxas accused, throwing his brother a pair of black shorts, "this _isn't_ you."

"What, so I'm not allowed to be all moody and emotional like you are?" he retorted. Roxas rolled his eyes.

The subtle flare that had been burning in his chest since the first week of school suddenly caught on fire. Sora scowled and unbuttoned his uniform. Across the room, his twin climbed up the ladder to his sleeping space and lay down, ignoring his brother's outburst. With a frustrated growl, he pulled at his hair and stuffed his face into his pillow, inhaling the scent of sour green apple that had transferred from his hair to the pillowcase.

"Some jealous, idiot jock probably just started the rumor, so don't give it any second thought okay?"

Sora huffed and sat up. "Rox, do you even know what it's about? Kairi told me it's at her school now too! Everyone's saying 'Sora Esment's going out with some pretty silver-haired college student'! Now who do we know that matches that description?"

Roxas pouted and rolled over onto his stomach. "Sora, you're overreacting. The rumor doesn't even sound gender-specific."

"It _is_," Sora moaned pleadingly. "Everyone thinks I'm _gay_!"

"So what if people think you're gay?" Roxas frowned, biting back a defensive remark about his own orientation. "As long as you know what your orientation is, it shouldn't matter."

Sora grew silent at those words and stuffed his face into his pillow. "Esmphrotse…" he mumbled, breathing in the fruity scent of his hair product-laden pillow as he did so.

"What?"

"Easy for you to say," he repeated, sarcastic and annoyed. "You _know_ what your orientation is, even if it's unconventional!" The blond physically jumped from the sudden volume his twin's voice took. Sora could be loud, Sora could be unhappy, but Sora _never_ got unhappily loud.

"… Sora, honestly, what happened?"

"Riku-fucking-Gallagher," Sora spat angrily. The moment the words left his lips in that tone, his face dropped into a dismal depression. "Riku happened…"

Roxas couldn't muster the strength to answer, so instead he opened up his bag and got started on his homework. Maybe it would be easier to talk during the sleepover with Kairi and Naminé tonight. Besides, tomorrow would be the start of the weekend, so they would have a forty-eight hour time period to slip in any necessary conversation that Sora didn't know he craved.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I don't know what's happening…" Roxas sighed, burying his face in Naminé's pillow. "I mean, first there's the rumor around the school about Sora's orientation, and he's really messed up over it. Then there's the picture of Axel carrying me across the race finish line as the homepage picture displayed on the hospital's official website!" He huffed and flipped over, crossing his arms. "Everyone at the school's seen it and they all think I'm 'finally dating someone', so half of them are pissed off and a quarter of them are crying their eyes out every time I walk into class."

The pretty blonde smiled sympathetically. "What about the other quarter?"

"They don't really give a damn," Roxas laughed. Naminé smiled in response and leaned over to begin stroking his hair, running her fingers through the ungelled strands. Roxas relaxed into the feeling and let his eyes drift back to the book he was optically devouring on his "sister's" bed. Turning back to her drawing, Naminé let the conversation slip into mute.

Roxas liked being on Naminé's floor of the Destiny Islands apartment complex. (He never understood why the owner insisted on calling it an apartment complex when every floor was more like its own house, but the current term made the place feel smaller and more like a home, so he stuck with it.) The Pannetiere residence was much more organized and better decorated than his own house. Because his dad was always away at the hospital (Aeron Esment was a surgeon), and Demyx was at the University of Atlantica pursuing a more sophisticated musical education while he put his Culinary Arts degree to good use, no one was able to keep tabs on making their home look nice.

God, he missed Demyx. Maybe Roxas could get him to come back home over Winter Break… And maybe if he could get Demyx to visit, they could all take a trip down to Hollow Bastion to visit their mother over the holidays.

That would be a nice change from the testosterone-filled life he was leading.

"I'd like to meet this Axel guy," Naminé interrupted, looking up from her sketchbook.

Roxas rolled over on the bed, enjoying the mild cooling sensation of an untouched patch of blanket against his bare chest. "Uhm… why?"

She giggled and fell across the bed to join him in his laying down. "Because I want to meet the father of your future children."

"Ohmigod, Naminé!" he yelled, covering his eyes, "G-guys can't have babies!"

She giggled again and buried her face into her pillow. "God knows they try…"

"_Naminé_!"

The blonde laughed and rolled over so she lay facing Roxas on her side, and reached over to play with his hair. Roxas, embarrassed, flushed a deep red as he squirmed in place. Naminé just made way too many jokes about male pregnancy for him to truly care anymore.

Roxas rolled over and stared out the blonde's window. Outside, the shining streetlights obscured the stars, illuminating only the island of a park in the middle of the towering Destiny Islands apartments. In the light, Sora was sitting on one of the metal animals in the park on his cell phone. From there, his eyes fell on the swing set where he first met Axel, and Roxas could've sworn there was a slight swirl of anxious excitement just under his chest. Visions of long red hair and clear green eyes popped into his head. The intoxicating sound of Axel's laugh, the way he smelled faintly like cigarette butts and sweat, the feeling of the wind on one side of his skin as Axel held him close when they crossed the finish line filled his senses.

Roxas rolled over and buried his face in a pillow. Suddenly, the light, feminine, fruity smell of Naminé's shampoo assaulted his nose and the mental vision stopped. Funny how he had always associated the park with Axel…

"If you want, you can meet him this weekend. We're going to hang out at Balamb Garden…"

Naminé frowned and brushed a lock of light blonde hair out of her face. "I can't go this weekend; I've got school stuff to do and a test to study for."

"Oh, that sucks…" Roxas smiled sympathetically. "Just whenever then, I guess? I don't think they'd be against it… I mean, they've already seen pictures of you and Kairi with me and Sora."

"They have?" Naminé cocked a well-plucked eyebrow as Roxas nodded in affirmation. Her lips upturned in a smile as indications of a sudden thought crossed her features. "Can I bring Marly?"

"Sure," Roxas smirked, "she can come with."

"Roxas!" Naminé half-yelled, half-laughed as she leaned over to smack him on the arm. "Marly's a_guy_! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

The blond laughed and dodged the hit. "I'm sorry your best friend's so gay I think I'll have an aneurysm if I look at him as a male."

Marluxia was her other best friend that Roxas could've sworn on his life was gay if he didn't know that the pink-haired, flower-loving boy could kick his ass. Moreover, Roxas had the sneaking suspicion that Naminé was completely in love with him, so it made truly insulting the guy hard for pretty much anyone (not that Roxas would intentionally insult him – Roxas was too amicable for that kind of behavior).

Naminé rolled her eyes and got up off the bed. Roxas followed, knocking his shin against the edge of the wood as his arm slipped and he fell face forward into the floor.

"Holy _fu_–" He clutched his leg and rocked back and forth in fetal position on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut.

Naminé stopped and dropped to the floor. "Roxas, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he sighed and got up carefully. "I'm fine… I _hate_ having a mattress on the floor sometimes; I keep forgetting people actually have bed frames."

The petite blonde stood around awkwardly for a few moments, playing with the hem of her oversized shirt as she and Roxas stood in silence. Roxas got up and brushed himself off, shooting her a shy smile and making a beeline for the bedroom door. His best (female) friend followed and together they made their way into the kitchen that was down the hall, directly outside of Kairi's bedroom door.

Naminé paused and looked up at Roxas. "Do you want to go eat now?"

"Sure…" Roxas's stomach growled and he smiled sheepishly. He actually hadn't eaten since that morning, when Sora had made them all Demyx's Breakfast Burritos again. "What do you have?"

"Just the usual," she replied. "Are we going to order food or do you want me to cook something?"

"Of course I want you to cook!" Roxas replied enthusiastically, sitting down on a barstool in the kitchen. Naminé rummaged through the pantry and pulled out a box of noodles that was followed by a few vegetables from the refrigerator and pots from some of the cabinets closer to the ground. She started boiling the water and began washing the vegetables soon after.

"Should we get Kairi?"

"I'm already here. Why do you think my room's the closest to the kitchen?"

The pair heard a door open from near the hallway and turned around to face the sound. Kairi was at her bedroom door, leaning against the frame. Her lengthening reddish brown hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a loose pair of gray sweatpants hung low on her hips. Like usual, her black sports bra was showing through her slim-fitting white tank top, and – as usual – she didn't give a damn.

With a habitual swing of her hips, Kairi sauntered over to Roxas and sat down, leaning onto counter and resting her face tiredly into the space formed by her arms. Roxas turned to face her and lowered his head down to her level so that they could talk.

"Why aren't you with Sora?" he whispered. They were supposed to be hanging out with each of the sisters, weren't they?

"He's…" Kairi sighed and turned her face toward his, not bothering to hush her voice. "He's still chillin' in the park on the phone. I left to give him some privacy."

"Do you know who he's talking to?" Roxas asked.

"Well…" Kairi tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I'm going to have to say I don't, but that we can guess. Seriously, who are the only two people he ever talks to on the phone nowadays?"

"Demyx and Riku." Roxas hadn't needed to think before he replied – the answer just came too naturally.

Kairi smiled and ruffled his hair. "Exactly."

"Uhh… 'exactly' what? Either-or choices don't exactly give me an answer, so…"

Kairi sighed and rolled her eyes, amused. "He's probably talking to Demyx."

"Ah." Roxas frowned and turned his gaze toward Naminé, who was chopping the last of the vegetables to go in the sauce. "That's not very exciting."

The brunette giggled in response and stretched her arms outward toward the sink on the other side of the marble countertop. "I never said it would be."

Roxas sighed and got up from where he sat at the kitchen to go sit at one of the sleek black couches next to the glass wall that overlooked a sparkling part of the city. Before him were city lights that twinkled brighter than the stars millions of miles away, moving in streams of brightly-colored fluorescence that mesmerized him into a trance-like state. Before he knew it, Roxas's palm was pressed to the glass, and thoughts of Axel watching the city lights with him invaded his mind.

What would it feel like to have the redhead's arms wrapped securely around his waist? How would Axel's voice sound when it whispered sweet nothings into his ear? And how would his lips feel against his neck, brushing gently in small un-kisses?

Sighing, Roxas shook his head. He would be seeing Axel this weekend, so perhaps thinking about the redhead in such a context should be avoided before then. Who knew what it would do to his reactions when he saw the man again?

_Where did that even come from?_ Roxas wondered, nibbling his lip in contemplation. There was certainly no denying that Axel was attractive, and (as much as he hated to address it) Roxas was still a hormonal teenager. Thoughts like this, the intimacy-inclined wanderings of his mind, were supposed to be normal, right?

Right?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sand curled beneath his toes as Sora Esment sat on a lonely metal squirrel-on-a-giant-spring in the park. He'd spent a good deal of the night spilling his worries over to Kairi, and when she was done listening, she told him that it was probably best that he take a break from thinking by himself and call someone who had more experience with 'this kind of thing'. A small pang of hurt slipped through his chest at her words, but he soon realized that she really was offering her best advice and not trying to blow him off like Roxas had almost all day.

After a sigh filled with a sense of finality, Sora scrolled down his contacts list on his cell phone and hit the call button. He held the cellular device to his ear and listened for the dial tone on the other end. It rang four times before a cheery voice picked up and greeted him enthusiastically.

"_Hey, little brother!_"

"Hey, Dem…" Sora sighed. Cheery wasn't exactly what he needed right now.

"_Oh, no… I know that tone of voice. Sor, what's wrong?_"

He hesitated, sliding off the metal squirrel he was perched on and making his way over to the park swings. Vaguely, in the back of his mind, they registered as where he and Roxas had been the night Axel, Riku, and Zexion had shown up in the park.

_Roxas was sitting at the exit of the tubular yellow slide on the other side of the park. Leaves and rocks dug into his palms as Sora remained crouched down, low in the bushes, watching with a fascinated horror as the redhead whose lap his twin was situated on made eyes at Roxas the way a boy looked at a girl he was interested in. Around him, the dull buzz of insects fluctuated in waves that came and passed with each movement of the humans in the park. Sora tuned the noises out, transfixed on the fact that the redheaded teenager held Roxas close to his body and was leaning forward to brush his lips against Roxas's skin._

_He wanted to cry out – to **do** something – and make the older boy stop. 'Boys and boys shouldn't be together!' he thought desperately. Still, his throat felt like it had swelled shut and his tongue sat fat and dry in his mouth, unmoving as he watched Roxas reciprocate the older boy's approaches, welcoming more. As he realized the two were conversing, he felt the beginnings of a stirring in his chest. He nearly stood up from the shocked realization, but his body was still uncooperative, unresponsive, from the mix of sheer terror and… jealousy._

_Jealousy – such an ugly word at such a young age._

_There wasn't anything he could do as he sat crouched in the bushes, rocks and twigs and leaves stabbing into his palms, breath quick and shallow from the wide-eyed fear that something was going to happen to Roxas, that perhaps–_

"_Sora!_" Demyx interrupted from the other line, "_are you still there?_"

"Y-yeah, I'm still here," Sora managed to stammer, his chest rising unsteadily in aftershock from the memory.

A small puff of a semi-relieved breath sounded from the speaker on the other line and into Sora's ear. "_Why did you call?_"

"I…" Gods, how was he even supposed to start talking about this? "Dem, ya know that time I asked you to cover for me?"

"_Oh my GOD, Sora! Did you get someone pregn-_"

"NO!" he yelled, the echoes of his voice bouncing around the cylindrical shape of the building. "No one's prego, Dem!"

"_So…_" the oldest Esment brother extended the vowel until Sora sighed in exasperation, "_no banging involving either of my little brothers?_"

Sora laughed at his older brother's colorful language in affirmation. He practically heard the older Esment's expression of relief washing over his face.

"No… but now I'm a little bit wishing there was."

Silence filled his ears from the other end, a silence that seemed to muffle the buzz and hum of insects around him in the bushes. He listened carefully, almost expecting a dial tone to start up partway into the pregnant pause.

Suddenly, Sora found the story of him and Riku spilling forth from his lips. Everything from the way they'd first started flirting, their first meeting, and the sporadic hang outs in between, to the race fell out in a jumble of words and information. Never did he stop once to think about what he was saying, because there was no need; thoughts of Riku had been dominating his mind throughout the entire day. Vaguely, he realized that the pressure that had been sitting on his chest for the last week was slowly lifting and making room for him to breathe again.

Fifteen minutes later, Sora's story ended and silence took over once more. Straining his ears, Sora could hear the faint sounds of breathing beginning from Demyx's lips as he wet his lips and started for a reply.

"_Sora, I think you need to talk to this Riku guy, not me._"

Biting his lower lip, Sora asked, "So you're not mad that he's twenty-four?"

"_Attraction doesn't discriminate,_" Demyx chuckled. "_Heck, I've dated a guy who was thirty and a woman with a kid before. Take it from me that people don't always get to choose what makes them hot n' bothered, okay?_"

"Alright," Sora laughed. "Thanks a lot, Dem."

"_Anytime, little brother._"

"Wait!" Sora suddenly yelled, only slightly too loud.

"_Hm?_" Demyx asked, patient as ever.

"Are you coming home this winter?" he asked, the hints of pleading in his voice unconcealed from his brother's adept ears.

"_Yeah_," the older Esment answered with a laugh, "_of course I am. And we can go visit Mom in Hollow Bastion when I come back, okay?_"

"Okay," Sora smiled, his world a little brighter for a few seconds. "Bye then."

"_Bye, Sora._"

Sora slid his phone shut with a dull click and dropped it into his pocket. Why did everyone keep referring him to someone else today? Although they were all giving him great advice, the more he was being redirected, the more he felt like a bothersome pain in the neck.

Dejected, Sora turned his thoughts toward the present problem. How would he be able to talk to Riku? He still didn't know how someone would go about taking back a rejection… Would he just start with a "Hey, we need to talk" or…

A mental image of his lips pressed against Riku's suddenly filled his mind, and the brunet found himself wondering what Riku would taste like, what Riku would sound like, what Riku would _feel_like on top of him…

Blushing, Sora coughed once to himself and shook his head. No, those weren't the kinds of thoughts he needed right now! Bad Sora, Bad Sora!

As he sat mulling over his current predicament, a vibration ran up his leg from his cell phone. He slid his phone open to find two new text messages, both from Roxas.

'_Get up here, Naminé's cooking!'_

He smiled at that one and got up from where he was sitting. As he made his way toward the elevators, he opened up the second text.

_'Going to Balamb Garden Sat. w/ Josh, Neku, Zex, Riku, and Axel. Come with?'_

Sora froze in front of the elevators, cell phone in hand, finger against the up arrow button, but not pressing down.

Balamb Garden.

Tomorrow.

With Riku.

… How was he supposed to decline?

**_'Yes_**_.'_

And in the pit of his stomach, Sora couldn't shake the feeling that he was signing his own metaphorical death warrant.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Saturday came sooner than Sora would have liked. When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he saw was Kairi still curled up asleep on his chest, her pale, slightly blemished face glowing in the morning light. Sora decided he liked her much better when she wasn't wearing make-up.

Suddenly, Sora felt appreciative that men didn't have any social obligation to cake their faces in powders and paint.

_Riku wouldn't need them anyway…_

Sora blinked in surprise at the thought that flittered across his mind. Okay. So sometime in his sleep, he had decided that Riku was gorgeous? That was… interesting.

Grumbling started in his belly and Sora shifted his weight on the mattress to move Kairi's head off his chest and onto a pillow. She slid without a sound or a stir in her sleep, so Sora got up off the bed and went to the kitchen to rummage through the endless cabinets of food for his morning sustenance. Two minutes into his cereal (something to turn his milk chocolate flavored, of course) Roxas and Naminé emerged from Naminé's bedroom, yawning and gravitating toward the box of cereal, milk, bowls, and spoons Sora had set on the table.

"G'morning," Naminé yawned, her mouth settling into a tiny, still-sleepy O.

"You ready for today?" Roxas asked, his eyes shining with excitement. Sora nodded, but didn't bother trying to mirror the sentiment; it would be unnecessary to try to hide his anxiety now – the people here all knew how to read him like an open book. Roxas smiled back sympathetically and reached over for two sets of bowls and spoons, setting one in front of Naminé as she sat down, rubbing her eyes. "You don't have to go if you don't want to," he offered as he poured himself a bowl of milk and cereal.

Sora sighed and forced his eyes up from where his gaze had been boring into a spot on the milk. "It's alright," he reassured his blond twin with a genuine upturn of the lips, "I think it's time to stop brooding."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Balamb Garden was a flamboyant city. Parts of the city were filled with modern architecture accentuated by curves and dusty, metallic colors; the other portions were cultural centers filled with traditional and lively music, dance, markets, and temples. With its history of vibrant elegance, Balamb Garden was one of the most popular tourist centers in the area. During the peak of each season, festivals were held at the most architecturally cultural sites of the city, and each of the locations were flocked by locals, visitors, and tourists alike.

Roxas looked forward toward the ending of the red cobblestone path he was following where an impressive temple sat, doors open to welcome visitors by the mouthful. The wooden walls of the temple were all painted in a vibrant ruby paint while the pyramidal roof that curved up at the ends accentuated the red with solid, steadfast black tiles all meticulously set for a timeless permanence.

The overall effect was surreal.

Autumn's peak shone in the form of a dried red and gold rain of leaves that fluttered down at irregular intervals, avoiding pedestrians at nearly every swoop toward the ground that gravity forced. Roxas watched the unceremonious tumbles in a daze, half looking for Axel, half admiring Balamb Garden's idyllic scenery. His head tilted slightly to the right and his lips upturned in interest as he spotted a woman wearing traditional Balamb clothing pressing a lithograph picture onto a scroll inside a shop lining the way to the autumn temple. The billowing white sleeves of her top were pulled up to her elbows, tied back by a rope tucked around her shoulders, and her hair was gathered up into a knot at the top of her head. Customers (most likely tourists) waited next to her in a short line, chatting excitedly about the multiple scrolls hanging off the walls of her shop.

A breeze blew by and Roxas shoved his hands into his pockets. He was grateful Sora had convinced him to wear his _Lapin Angelique _black bondage coat ("_We're going to go see Axel! Don't you want to look sexy?_"), because anything else from his wardrobe would have too light. As beautiful as Balamb Garden was, it was simply too cold compared to Twilight Town.

What if someone from his school saw him wearing this kind of clothing? Roxas gagged at the thought. They'd probably snap a photo on their camera and show it (but not send it) to their friends and gloat about how they got a chance to see an Esment in his "natural state of being". Something about dressing just a little badass seemed to set the entire T.A. population into a mad drooling frenzy. Sometimes Roxas was really grateful he went to a private school that required uniforms.

He could feel Sora standing quietly next to him, taking in a different kind of scenery with equal interest. Roxas tore his eyes away from the lithographer and set his gaze to follow his twin's. With a mild shock, he realized Sora was watching a couple tucked away behind a tree releasing abundant amounts of dried leaves. At first glace, Roxas could have sworn that they were any ordinary couple, but after an extended second, it occurred to him that he was watching two young men napping together under the shade of the Balamb maple.

"They're cute together, aren't they?" Roxas nearly jumped into two women passing by as he felt Axel's familiar, silky voice smooth over the space below his ear. Turning around, Roxas came face to face with an entourage of five, all of which had amusement shining prominently over their features.

"Let's just get to the temple already," the blond blushed, gravitating toward Axel as he did so. The group agreed, each member nodding or vocalizing their approval at different intervals, and they set of toward the building at the end of the cobblestone road.

"So… Roxas, how are you?"

He looked up to see Axel standing next to him, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he looked forward to nowhere in particular. Roxas noted with muted excitement that Axel had styled his hair today with the multitude of hair products he had assumed to belong to the colorful man lingering beside him. He stepped marginally closer to Axel and dared a surreptitious sniff. He was sure Axel smelled a bit more like apples today.

"I'm doing pretty well…" he replied, suddenly a bit self-conscious as the redhead turned to look at him, little wisps of smoke coming off the end of his cigarette. Roxas eyed the white stick with scrutiny, his eyebrows furrowing indecisively at what to say. Smoke never mixed well with Roxas, oh no it didn't…

"Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?"

_Yeah, there's a cancer stick attached to your lips._

"No, nothing's wrong," Roxas replied. He looked up to the temple door to see a convenient sign hanging adjacent to his face and pointed at it. "It just says 'No Smoking Permitted' here."

Axel nodded and plucked the white stick from between his lips, taking one last drag before crushing it onto the over-sized ashtray atop the trashcan by the entrance. Roxas let out a sigh of relief and held out his hand as one of the temple followers, a pretty young woman with long brown hair tied back with a pink ribbon, handed him a small and simple blank scroll.

"You can write your next season's hope on them inside and hang it on the maple in the courtyard."

"Thanks," Roxas smiled politely to her, taking three and handing off one to Axel and one to Zexion. The group shuffled in, taking in the sight of the massive Balamb maple standing formidably in the middle of a grass field. Around them, tourists and locals alike flocked to one of the main tables where ink and brushes were set up for temple followers to write their words on the parchment slips. No one said anything as the group dissipated, but not into their usual pairs and single trio. Roxas watched a little nervously as Sora and Riku wandered off together and he was left with Axel and Zexion. Joshua and Neku always seemed to disappear the moment they got the chance; Roxas had no doubt they were off in some corner quietly making the other temple-goers uncomfortable with their subtle, but unnecessary public displays of affection. Secretly, Roxas was surprised they hadn't gotten suspended yet at school.

"Which table shall we go to?" Zexion asked, breaking the silence as naturally as a gust of wind through a pile of leaves.

"The one here looks fine," Axel replied. "What do you think, Roxas?"

"Yeah," he answered, taking a quick glance over before resetting his eyes back on Axel. "It looks good."

The three made their way over to the nearest table to wait, only slightly bored. Roxas looked around him, inwardly cursing his short stature when he couldn't find Sora or Riku anywhere in the vicinity. They'd chosen one of the shorter lines near the back of the temple and were probably already hanging up their little scrolls on the tree.

"Roxas."

"Yeah?" He turned around to face Zexion, curiosity piqued. Zexion never really addressed him unless there was something important or interesting to say; he simply never wasted a breath.

"You aspire to attend RGU, correct?" Roxas nodded. "To be educated by Professor Saïx Thornton?" Roxas nodded again, noting how the corners of Zexion's lips upturned at the affirmation. "Would you mind if I sampled your writing?"

"Uhh… okay, but isn't this a bit random?"

"I do believe you promised to send me a story, but never did after the party in July," Zexion supplied.

Roxas facepalmed and laughed. "Dang, I'm sorry. I'll send it to you when I get home, is that okay?"

"Actually," the older man tapped his lips in contemplation, "would you like to meet up at the WildKat sometime over your winter break? Coffee and stories is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to spend a leisurely winter afternoon."

"Sure," Roxas replied, surprised that he was genuinely excited, "that sounds good."

Zexion nodded, his one visible eye shining. "Alright then. I look forward to this meeting."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_What just happened?_

Axel stared in disbelief at the exchange before him. It almost sounded like Zexion – king of all things asexual – had just asked Roxas out on a date. He'd need to tell Riku about this later, when the three of them got back to the apartment.

The next few moments were a flurry of motion as the trio reached the table where a robed man smiled and asked for their rolls of parchment paper. Roxas was ushered forward and forced to hand his in first. The robed man wrote each man's phrase down on his respective script in the Balamb tongue, and handed the scroll to Roxas. The moment the man finished writing, Roxas ducked out of line as quick as he could and shuffled across to the side of the table, where Axel soon followed, parchment clutched in his hand.

"Meeting up with Zexion for a little one on one, huh?" Axel teased, inwardly enjoying the blush that spread through Roxas's cheeks.

"You make that sound so _dirty_…" Roxas groaned. "It's just a meeting of the minds."

_Yeah… but it sounded like he asked you on a date. And you accepted._

"It's what I do," Axel laughed, bumping the blond teenager with his elbow. "Now let's go hang these up."

The blond nodded and walked off toward the large maple in the center of the courtyard. Axel couldn't help but notice the way the younger male's straight fitted jeans looked quite becoming on his slim figure, and how his jacket fit snuggly against Roxas's figure with all its horizontal straps going across the front of his body, strapping his slim torso in and letting out just at his waist to allow movement. Daring to continue his sidelong glance over to the blond, Axel took a quiet moment to watch the way Roxas's pale fingers reached upward to tie his roll of paper to the tree, admiring the way his taut body stretched upward elegantly beneath the long, black _bondage_ coat…

"I saw that." Axel nearly jumped at the voice that came up from behind his right shoulder.

"Saw w-what?" he stammered, feigning innocence. As usual, the ploy didn't work and Axel was forced to silently admit defeat almost instantaneously; Zexion was majoring in Psychology, after all… Axel sometimes wished he had friends of a slightly lower intelligence.

Zexion smirked – well, as much as he _could_ smirk, anyway – and brought his fingers to his lips. "You're stripping him with your eyes, aren't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Axel scoffed. "He's still just a child."

The lilac-haired man rolled his eyes. "That is only an excuse on your part. The legal age of consent is sixteen, is it not?" Axel's eyes nearly shot out of his head at his friend's words. Since when did Zexion endorse this kind of behavior? Did he not _see_ the moral obligations held against Axel as a mature member of society? Twenty-four-year-olds did _not_ go around taking advantage of mere children _seven years _their junior!

"What are you implying?" Axel asked, including a slight warning tone in his voice that Zexion ignored.

"I am merely stating that the legal age of consent in the Hearts region is sixteen. What were you implying?"

Grumbling, the redhead turned away and continued watching Roxas. Had he been honest with himself, Axel probably would have admitted he was more than simply admiring Roxas's calm visage, but was rather attracted to the way his impossibly blue eyes wrinkled at the corners when he really laughed, the way his pretty, thin, pink lips pulled together seamlessly whenever he was silent. Whether he was happy, angry, depressed, excited, or content, Roxas's face was almost always… perfect.

"Axel."

"Yes?"

"Technically speaking, he _is_ legal."

Axel agitatedly ran his hands through his hair, mussing but then re-grooming his spikes in frustration. "Would you just drop it already?"

"Alright, alright," Zexion put his hands up in front of his face in a 'don't hit me' gesture. "I'm going to go converse with Joshua now, so, please, feel free to ogle Roxas as much as you like."

"You–"

"Goodbye," the lilac-haired man interrupted, pivoting on his heel and strolling away.

The redhead watched with unconcealed dismay as Zexion walked off. Why was everyone convinced that he was trying to get into Roxas's pants? The blond was still a _child_, for crying out loud! Sighing deeply, Axel turned his attention back to where Roxas was standing silently, admiring the way the leaves fell with every breeze around him. As much as he hated to admit it, the boy was attractive – no one could deny that – but in Axel's eyes, he was still jailbait; Axel didn't fraternize with jailbait.

Axel refused to see Roxas in that way. After all, it would probably be best to start with a simple platonic friendship – the boy was so much younger than him anyway, so that course of action would be the logical, _legal_ way to go.

_Yeah…_ he sighed, _legal's definitely the way to go._

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"H-hey, you're getting heavy…"

Sora glanced from where he was perched down to Riku, whose arms were around his legs and head between his thighs as he sat atop the silveret's shoulders, stretched out to meet a tree branch. Riku grunted once as Sora finished tying his slip of rolled up parchment to the giant Balamb maple in the middle of the temple and signaled for his friend to set him down. The silveret did so, careful with the Sora's body as he slid him down to the ground, hands trailing under the brunet's shirt and sliding from his hips to his ribcage. He could have sworn that a shiver ran through Sora's body at the sensation. Embarrassed, Riku coughed and turned away.

"So… now what?" Riku asked, sliding his hands into his pockets, face still slightly flushed. He looked up just in time to see Sora with his face flushed, playing with the hem of his shirt.

"H-hey, Riku?" Riku was surprised by how shaky the teen's voice sounded, looking up to see him gulp down a fresh breath of air before he continued. "I need to talk to you about something."

His eyebrows furrowed worriedly at the tone of his shorter friend's voice. "Is something wrong?"

Sora's eyes flicked nervously back and forth, surveying the density of the crowd. Riku followed his gaze and realized they were standing in the middle of a cesspool of people, and judging by the look on Sora's face, he was looking for a more private place to talk. He nearly jumped as Sora grabbed his hand and led him to a far corner of the temple's courtyard, just enough out of the way so that he could still see their friends and be seen (but not heard) by them.

The brunet stopped suddenly, pulling Riku close to him as they burrowed into the shadows of the corner of the temple. Still gripping hands, Sora was trembling nervously all over his body and Riku could almost see the flickering of thoughts running through his head. Sora's presence was so much more potent now that he wasn't being filtered out by all the noise, diluted by the movement of others; it was just him and Sora. Together.

Alone.

It would be so _easy_ to pull the younger male into a kiss, to press him against the bright wooden walls of the temple and skim his hands all over his body, to hear a breathy moan escaping next to his ear as he bit down on the brunet's perfectly tanned neck and sucked the tender flesh until it was a prominent, tender purple. How would Sora's hair feel between his fingers, how would the rise and fall of his chest feel pressed against Riku's body, the soft skin of his cheek feel nuzzled against his shoulder as he pleasured and worshipped the teen's body with his hands, lips, teeth, and tongue?

He knew he should have felt guilty about thinking of Sora in this way; the brunet was still far too young by what used to be Riku's standards, but… but he had gotten over the detail of their age difference long ago. If Sora were to ever accept Riku's advances, their relationship dynamic would be–

_No, there's no way. I fucked it up way too badly the first time, and he's probably straight anyway…_

Swallowing a sad smile, Riku shook out of his thoughts and realized that Sora was still trembling. "Sora, are you okay? You're still holding my hand." _Not that I would want you to stop._

Sora's brilliant face looked back up at him and Riku's breath caught in his throat. Sapphire eyes stared up at him, glazed over with a thin film of tears, eyelids fluttering rapidly in an attempt not to let nervous tears leak out. His perfect, cupid bow lips were parted and quivering. The only other time he'd seen such an expression on the brunet's features was at the race. Of course, it had been mixed with shock at the time, so perhaps this meant something different? After all, he still hadn't let go of Riku's hand…

"Sora, are you okay?" the silveret asked one more time.

"Y-yeah," the brunet stuttered, "I just… Do you remember how… err… back at the race in August you, uh…"

Riku's heart almost stopped. Was he really going to–

"Hello there." Sora jumped at the voice, his hand still attached to Riku's, his head nearly colliding with Riku's jaw. Joshua giggled as Neku came up from behind him to join the scene. "Am I interrupting something?"

Both parties were silent.

Neku sighed, pulling his headphones down from over his ears to around his neck, and rolled his eyes. "I think you just did." Joshua was still, his omnipresent smirk unmoving under his boyfriend's stoic stare.

"Ah… my bad."

Riku scowled. The boy didn't even seem sorry.

"It's fine; it wasn't important anyway." Sora forced a smile onto his lips and reluctantly let go of Riku's hand. "Now, what did you guys want?"

"Well," Joshua sighed, "everyone else wants wander around and just buy an early lunch from stalls set up outside the temple. Is this acceptable?"

"Yeah," Sora and Riku both replied in unison, blinking a few times afterward to register what had just happened, then blushing.

Joshua smiled to himself and ignored their reactions, turning away and walking off without checking to see if they were following. "Wandering around it is," he called toward the ensemble of people standing near the tree. Without giving each other a second glace, Riku and Sora rejoined the group and left the temple. All the while, a nagging feeling in the silveret's gut told him that the interruption might have just caused him to miss a major development.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Balamb Garden officially had the second best street food Roxas had ever tasted in his entire life. Sure, the tofu had smelled a bit funny (read: vomit inducing), but once Axel had force-fed it down his throat, Roxas had deemed it one of the most delicious foods he'd ever tasted. His breath probably smelled terrible after he took a few more of the fried 'stinky tofu' cubes, but he didn't care –it was almost as mouthwatering as Demyx's cooking! In fact, he wasn't put down when everyone else had refused to try any. That just mean he had an entire box to split between Axel and himself.

"I suggest you refrain from kissing anyone after this," Zexion murmured into his ear in jest.

"Unless it's Axel, of course," Riku whispered, swooping in and nudging Zexion aside. "Imagine how he would _taste_."

Axel grinned and wrapped an arm around the slender blond's waist. "You guys are just jealous I get this piece of hot ass all to myself," he teased, reaching over and impaling another cube of 'stinky tofu' on his extra long toothpick. Roxas rolled his eyes and bit into another tofu cube. As long as Axel didn't get his coat dirty, everything was cool.

Chewing eagerly, Roxas surveyed his surroundings once more. Balamb Garden was (for lack of a better word) warm. Everywhere he looked, there were Balamb maples shedding their old summer coats, preparing to sleep through winter and be reborn again in spring. The group had settled into two pairs and a trio again, nearly the same as before, except Zexion had somehow been gathered into a group along with Riku and Sora. Roxas didn't mind though, as he was currently still sharing his food with a gorgeous redhead as they ambled down the mildly busy street in public.

"We should do some shopping," Axel announced suddenly, causing the five people walking in front of him to stop and wait for him to catch up.

"That sounds quite appealing right now," Joshua agreed. "Personally, I'd love to find a _Pegaso_ or a_Dragon Couture_ to go browse around in…"

Neku frowned and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. "That sounds prissy and expensive."

"Well, I _am_ prissy and expensive, aren't I?" the silver-haired teen drawled sarcastically. "How fitting." Riku laughed and reached a hand forward to muss the boy's hair, but he ducked out of the way, pulling Neku in front of him just in time to force the orange-haired male into an almost face-full of Riku fist. He groaned as his arm reached up reflexively to block the hit.

"Seriously, I don't get how you have all this money to spend when you're working at the WildKat with Axel."

"Roxy, Roxy…" Joshua chuckled, touching the fingers of his right hand elegantly to his lips. "Didn't I already tell you that my money source was a S-E-C-R-E-T?"

"Yeah," the blond muttered in response. "I still don't think that's fair though… and don't you have to get back to the Café soon anyway? Your shifts start in an hour."

Neku stiffened suddenly and reached out an arm toward his boyfriend's wrist, his stoic features twitching slightly as the face of the watch beamed up at him, proudly announcing the current time. Wordlessly, he grabbed Joshua by the wrist and began dragging him off toward the nearest Sunnyside Station he could find. Enigmatic, carefree smile still on his features, Joshua waved back at the group. If it weren't for that fact that he already knew, Roxas was sure that the 'Toodles' that wisped forth from Joshua's lips was like a homing signal straight to his gaydar.

"Well then. I think I want to go find a _Lapin Angelique_," Riku announced. A wide grin spread across Roxas's face at the statement, and he immediately felt himself gravitating toward the silveret.

"More gothic clothing?" Zexion sighed and brought a hand to his forehead. "Don't you feel just a bit too old to dress that way, Gallagher?"

Riku rolled his eyes and brought an open palm down to rest on Roxas's shoulder. "Actually, no, I don't. And I'm sure Roxas here will agree with me. You do, don't you?" Roxas nodded awkwardly. "See? He agrees!"

"Sorry to kill your trip, Riku, but I don't think you'll find anything you're looking for here." The silveret's face fell as the words left Axel's lips. "There isn't even much CAT art on the streets, so I highly doubt that we'd find something as obscure and underground as _Lapin_ here."

"You really know how to kill a man's mood, Ax," he grumbled. "Mr. I-shop-online-because-_Gatito_-brand-things-don't-exist-in-stores!"

"Because they don't!" Axel retorted. "How else am I supposed to get a dead sexy outfit like this?" he gestured down to his clothing.

"… Shut up."

Trying to pass unnoticed, Roxas's eyes slid over Axel's body twice before coming to a solid conclusion: _Gatito_ did look quite nice on the redhead. Dark, straight jeans and a jacket that resembled Roxas's bondage coat, only less severe in kink-appeal, flattered Axel's slim figure quite effectively to a point where Roxas was sure he'd soon become partial to the style and air that it encouraged around Axel. Actually, he would probably become partial to anything Axel wore. He had a nice figure, so…

_Oh my God. I'm checking him out._

A furious blush forced its way across Roxas's cheeks and he turned around, pretending to only need to throw away his now-empty box of tofu, to hide his face from the group.

Eventually, they settled on simply window-shopping up and down the streets on the way from the temple back to Sunnyside Station. Miraculously, Riku was able to find an appealing black and purple tie that matched his pants while Zexion was able to settle on a pair of fingerless gloves that accentuated the thinness and length of his hands. Then, Sora had dragged the group inside a hippie-themed store and browsed through the racks until he fount a gaudy flower print one-piece dress. Together, he and Axel forced Roxas into the dress and took multiple pictures that they both sent to Joshua and Neku respectively.

Roxas was humiliated for nearly the entire trip home, but didn't mind so much when they'd taken a break down at the public park. He watched with a detached contentedness as the children attempted to catch the falling maple leaves, giggling when their friends missed or whenever a leaf fell onto an unsuspecting child's upturned face. The entire scene was so idyllic it made Roxas wish he had brought a better quality camera than the cheap thing on his phone.

Axel leaned over and murmured, "Makes you wish you were young again, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," he agreed, his body suddenly hyperaware of the way the redhead's lanky frame was leaning against his, the way he smelled faintly of cigarettes and apple-scented hair gel…

In the back of his mind, Roxas realized he could really get used to this.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora couldn't believe he'd screwed it up so badly.

He had been ready to just spill his metaphorical guts out all over the temple floor, but Joshua – of all people! – had to jump in and interrupt. Wasn't it completely obvious that he was trying to get some privacy with Riku?

"Augh!" Sora ran his fingers through his hair, breaking apart the spiky styled strands as he viciously pulled at the tufts. Nothing was going right in his life, was it? "I _hate_ this! I hate _life_! How do you like me now, Fate? You stupid, _fucking_ _bitch_!"

Somewhere out in the hall, a door slammed and Roxas came bursting into the room, a towel wrapped securely around his hips (thank goodness). He took one look at his aggravated twin on the couch, and swiftly moved over to join him.

"Sora!" he cried in alarm, "are you okay?"

"No!" the brunet yelled back, eyes frantic and leaking tears. Fuck Joshua. Fuck Joshua and his sanctimonious self! Wasn't it just so obvious… so… "My _GOD_!" he screamed, shoving his face into a pillow. What the hell was wrong with him? When did everything that had to do with Riku suddenly become so complicated? When did their simple friendship start drowning in romantic interference? When did…

The overwhelming feeling of hopelessness increased exponentially, growing in a quick, fierce wave and then crashing down into a sudden stillness, and the brunet's violent shaking suddenly halted. A quiet, hiccupping sob sounded through the room, as Sora buried his face deeper into his pillow, struggling to muffle the sound with the weight of his entire body.

"What happened? Was it Riku? Did he do something to you? Sora!"

He felt his body being shaken repeatedly by slightly damp hands while questions assaulted him from every possible angle. Another choked sob ripped its way through his throat and Sora buried his face deeper into the pillow. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could stop his own breathing…

Disbelief invaded his mind, and Sora jolted up, his eyes already well on their way to being swollen with tears. Suicidal thoughts weren't his thing; Sora was, well… Sora was too _Sora_ to be thinking like this. Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Sora Esment's vision came back to him in a rush. Suddenly, there was his twin, same face, same eyes, same hint of hopelessness in his expression, willing to help, willing to listen…

"No, Riku didn't do anything to me." Sora sighed, wiping his face and then his fingers onto the pillow. "Well… besides being overtly attractive, ya know? But I think everyone's susceptible to that."

Roxas smiled at him and opened his arms to invite Sora to rest against him. Disregarding the fact that his twin was only wearing a towel, Sora curled up against his chest and sighed. Sometimes he was glad he had a gay twin brother – no straight brother would ever be able to open up and hug him like this.

"Hey, So, I'm worried about you. What's been going on with you lately? We're hardly talking like we used to…"

"That's because you finally have friends."

Roxas managed a small laugh and began weaving his fingers through his brother's hair. "Yeah, maybe… but seriously. What's going on in your life? This week you were all mopey, then just a minute ago, you were cursing your head off – you _never_ swear – and now you're fresh done with crying. To tell you the truth, I'm a little freaked out."

"It's Riku." Sora heaved out in a heavy breath.

"You're gay?" Roxas half asked, half stated, eyes widening at the thought.

"N-no… At least, I don't _think_ so, but…" To this, Roxas cocked an eyebrow. "Uhm… I've never told you if I liked guys or girls, have I?"

"Nope," his twin affirmed.

Sora took in a stabilizing breath and squeezed his eyes shut as he confessed. "The truth is… I don't know."

After a few seconds of silence, Sora cracked open his eyes and was met with the sight of a very confused yet very amused Roxas. The twins stared at each other for a few moments in still silence… that is, until Sora raised his finger to poke Roxas between the eyes and was genially swatted away.

"I don't quite understand how you can't know by now. I mean, shouldn't hormones have taken over by now?"

"Yeah, they should have, but… I dunno. Maybe my hormones are picky?"

"Maybe they are," the blond twin mused. "Do you think your hormones might've picked Riku?"

"… Maybe."

Roxas chuckled, rearranging his towel. "Then what's the problem?"

Finally, Roxas was listening! Even though it took him about a week to even notice something was off, Sora appreciated that his brother's eyes were finally open to his obviously wrecked state. Wiping his drying eyes once more, Sora snuggled closer to Roxas's chest, ignoring the fact that his brother was still stark naked except for the towel. Grateful their father wasn't home, Sora felt comfortable taking his twin's bare arms and snuggling them closer around his near-identical frame. A small wisp of envy drifted through his brain as he noticed the blond's arms were toned and skin paler than his. Even though Roxas was the one out jogging every morning, Sora was the one who went and hung out with Kairi while the blistering sun was gleefully baking everyone's hides midday. Maybe he should start running with Roxas. It'd probably get rid of some of the extra flab he carried on his body. Not that there was much in the first place.

But that wasn't important at the moment.

Taking a mental U-turn, Sora settled back into the conversation. "Well…" he started, momentarily unsure of how to present the story. "Uhh… do you remember back in August when you forced me to go to that benefit race?"

"Yeah…" A slight frown sprouted upon Roxas's lips, but Sora took no notice. Instead, his mind was on other things. Was there any sort of opener for this conversation either? He might as well cut to the chase; no need to drag out all the gruesome details.

"I think," he started slowly, fiddling with the edge of the pillow, "I _think_ Riku tried to ask me out…"

"And?" his sibling asked, arms still snug around his shoulders.

"I… err…" _He's going to laugh at me._ "Well, I panicked."

"Sora…" He winced at the tone of his brother's voice. Okay, so compared to this, maybe the laugh would have been more of a welcome reaction.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, crossing his arms defensively. "I started really _noticing_ him afterward, and I'm really regretting it now."

He felt Roxas nod and settle his nose into Sora's hair, breathing in the faint smell of his own shampoo. Good thing the brunet had taken a shower first, or else he was sure Roxas would have winced and coughed from the sweat build-up that had gathered during the temple visit.

Ew.

"I figured," Roxas replied in a surprisingly knowing tone. "So why haven't you said anything to Riku?"

"I… I tried to today, but Joshua interrupted." Sora fisted the pillow in his hands and dug his nails into his palm through the fabric. "The moment was _perfect_ too! I was so ready, ya know? I came to terms with all the crazy stuff going on in my head after I called Demyx yesterday, and so I was going to talk to Riku today, but–"

"Hey, So?" Roxas interrupted, sliding a spike of Sora's chocolate-colored hair between his fingers.

"Yes?"

"I have a…" he paused, biting his lip in thought. "I have a proposal, of sorts"

"What?" If this was love advice, Sora hardly thought his brother was qualified to distribute it. As far as he knew, Roxas had never dated anyone either, so they should be on level playing-ground, right? Then again, maybe not because – unlike Sora – Roxas was sure of his sexual orientation.

"Hey, Sora. Did you even hear what I just said? Or are you just in shock?"

The brunet buried his face in his pillow, and mumbled, "I… drifted off. I'm sorry."

Roxas laughed, the rising of his chest shaking Sora's cranium slightly with every bounce and jitter that paired the jovial sound. "Well, let me try again," he offered. "As I was saying: why don't you just flirt with Riku for a while?"

"But I thought you and Dem didn't like it when I did that." Sora cocked an eyebrow and reached back to ruffle his twin's hair.

"We normally don't," Roxas affirmed, "but it'll be different this time, because, like, this one's for reals, ya know?" He paused to chuckle at his choice. "Have you ever really flirted with someone because you were interested?"

"No," Sora replied, after a quiet moment. Sadly, he could have answered this one as instantaneously as Demyx could have shown someone how to properly slice an invisible sushi roll, but he took his time and pretended he needed to think this one through. Roxas could probably tell he was doing it, but going through the movements anyway was a kind of comfort that maybe he could still try to convince the world he was more sincere than it thought.

"So take your chance; enjoy yourself!"

"But… What if I look like an idiot?" Sora mumbled, and bit his lip.

"Then Riku will think you're adorable. Now, seriously, I'm gonna put some clothes on." Roxas slowly sat up, letting his brother slide off his lap as he readjusted his towel.

"Thanks, Rox."

"Hey, no problem," the blond grinned, reaching over with his free hand to ruffle Sora's still-spiky, yet un-styled hair. "You're just lucky dad isn't home yet."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "If he'd heard me screaming he probably would've flipped a bitch and started panicking."

"So," Roxas narrowed his eyes, "that's what I did."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Sora laughed, climbing up the ladder to his sleeping space as his brother began pulling clothes out of their dressers under him. A little contented sound left his lips as he flopped on to his mattress, shedding his shirt and turning around in the cooled sheets until he was able to gather them around his body to be sufficiently warm. Curled up in his blanket cocoon, Sora gazed at the wall aimlessly, letting his mind settle on the option his brother had brought up.

_Flirting, eh? That certainly has a nice ring to it… Riku Gallagher, you stand no chance!_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Roxas woke up with his fists clenched into his bed sheets, face pressed against his tear-laden pillow, eyes wide with shock, body trembling from some sort of almost-system-overload, mind filled with images and sensations he could hardly retain. A choking, sobbing sound squeezed through his throat followed by a raggedy gasp for air. It felt as if some fearsome, clawed beast had torn a gaping hole in the middle of his chest, because, suddenly, Roxas's entire body felt hollow, evanescent.

The night had been normal for the most part, hadn't it? All he did was spend the day with college students at a temple across town, go shopping with said students, get forced into a lacy maid outfit-like dress, and half-nakedly hug his twin as he confessed that he was going through a sexual identity crisis. Plus, his father had arrived home at the usual 10:00pm and bid both him and Sora goodnight before turning in. There was definitely nothing wrong with today that could have fabricated such a unique subconscious simulation in his mind, right?

Right?

From across the room, Sora stirred from his sleep and gazed sleepily over toward his twin on the other side of the room.

"Rox?" the brunet whispered sleepily.

The blond sat up and touched his fingertips to his cheekbones, only to be met with moistness under his eyes. The feeling of dried saltwater running down his neck suddenly became unbearable and he slid off his mattress to descend the ladder on his side of the room.

"I'm okay, So," he reassured his twin, "you can go back to sleep."

Sora flipped over on his mattress just in time to miss Roxas walking toward their shared desk to pick up his bright green laptop. Padding out of the room, Roxas made his way down the hall a short distance to his and Sora's shared bathroom and locked the door. He flicked on the light, squinting at the way the bright luminescence attacked his pupils, and squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing them ineffectually for a minute before looking up to his reflection. His eyes were puffy and slightly bloodshot, and he poked at them worriedly before he sighed and looked down at his hands that were clenched against the edge of the bathroom sink.

Splashing water onto his face seemed like a good idea to him, so he twisted the silver handle of the faucet on and filled his cupped hands with water and splashed himself repeatedly until the water had dribbled down to the waistband of his boxers. Sufficiently soaked, Roxas dried his hands on a towel and reached for his laptop on the sink. Setting the toilet cover down, he sat down and set to writing before the memory of his dream left and all he could remember was the feeling that there was some sort of hole in his existence that suddenly made itself known and was begging to be filled up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_Leaves swirl around me, flitting about the scenery that fades into white like a blurry-edged video or maybe a fading color photograph. A stretch of a walkway lingers at my feet, clear, and looking off to nothing but white, like I was raised on a glass carpet above a blank sheet of paper, or perhaps animal fur, because the edges of the white seemed to be forming over the glass in small tendrils like grass or something else alive but not quite animate. I can't hear anything – this silence truly is silent, so unlike what we call 'quiet' – so I look forward onto the ever-spanning walkway before me and try to imagine the sounds, conjure up the rustle that the balmy-colored leaves should be making._

_Omni-present silence follows still, stalking me as I continue down the path. There are no trees here at first, for the leaves seem to be falling, drifting, singing down from my surrounding anti-abyss, but as I take a closer look, the leaves begin materializing again like pictures being scribbled onto paper in a messy one-stroke scrawl that takes only a fraction of a second to create another shower of red, orange, and gold. Against the instinctual quivering of a warning in the base of my stomach, I reach upward toward the blank, white 'sky' and try to touch a leaf. One flits near my hand, disappearing onto my skin as an opaque red stain when I span an extra breadth of a distance to touch it. Remnants of the leaf crawl through the grooves of my hands, spreading thinner and thinner with each stretch that follows my veins back toward the direction of my heart, tingling with a dull, numbing sensation that pulls the entire attention of my body to my hands._

_The leaf finally stops its journey through my body, stops numbing my skin, so I look up again only to find that the blank white canvas has changed. Those one-stroke movements return, but this time as an eraser pulling across the whiteness to reveal the beginning edges of a sketched, monochromatic temple whose shaded lines move like a stop motion film or amateur manually animated clip set in a monotonous loop._

_"Hello?" I call out into the vastness of the unnamed place. As expected, no sound meets my ears; it is a strange sensation, to speak and hear yourself in your mind, but not through your auditory senses. "Hello?" I call out one more, this time with my hand against my face. There is no rush of carbon dioxide from my lungs, no feeling of warm breath spanning through my fingers to join the rest of the atmosphere._

_'Curiouser and curiouser,' I think aloud to no one in particular, chuckling even in my senselessness. I look down at my body to see my skin covered with traditional Balamb clothing; a white robe, pushed back to my elbows, sandals that clench between my toes through a thin white sock, and a red sash-like belt around my waist completes the look. Upon closer inspection, I realize everything is covered in little red, orange, and gold fading splotches, looking like the rain had been infused with dyes and was slowly drying out to nothing._

_A feeling of possession overcomes me and I suddenly find my arms (are they truly mine? By now, I doubt my own interpretation of reality…) reaching forth to catch the leaves. Little by little, my hands acquire a buildup of warm splotches, my body feels as though it's sparkling from the numbing contact with the drawn leaves that are now generated from stop motion trees. They rain down, increasing in quantity as I catch them, fueled by an unexplainable desire to be taken in, consumed by my body._

_Something pulls upward, perhaps like a string attached to my body, tugging with gentle earnest, like a loving owner with a leash rather than a puppet master with his life-sized toy, so my head is inclined to follow, spinning 'skyward', and the rain of leaves pauses. A feeling of stillness overcomes me; I am now a mannequin. Somehow, my eyes are still functioning, and from the center of my vision, a single red leaf floats down, twirling and bumping its brothers who do not respond, who only move when he touches them, when he accidentally bumps them with his sporadic touches. I follow in a muted daze, quivering with excitement, as the leaf is only a mere breadth above my face now, as if anticipating something from my part. Fluttering my eyes shut, I feel the tug on my being once more and pull forth to meet the picture-like leaf with my lips._

_It is now when the atmosphere sprouts into life, sprouting from the place where the enigmatic leaf met my skin, and the rush of feeling hurries back into my system. The gentle rustle of leaves, the earthy taste of air, the brushing feel of clothing, the heady smell of nature, the bright vision of red and green, the warmth of being held, the overwhelming feeling of his lips against mine is suddenly too much. I pull back, gasping for air, my hands clenched in the fabric of his slipping robe, chest heaving, my face pressed against his stable, radiating, protective warmth._

_No longer is this world made up of scribbles and choppy erasure lines, of white grass curling against glass walkways, of numbing leaves of ink that press into my body. No longer am I senseless. No longer am I alone…_

_Suddenly, everything exists._

* * *

Note: Changed the name of the city the Esments live in to Twilight Town. Honestly, 'Destiny' was waaaaaay too ridiculous to be the name of a city.

**THE IMPORTANT NEWS: **To my great displeasure, I have to take a three month (what-I-wish-was-partial) hiatus from writing in order to prepare for the PSATs and the SATs. Yes, I just revealed my age in an indirect manner. Is this a scary revelation to anyone?

I'm rather upset with the fact that I'm no longer following my original story plans, which is something I hate seeing other authors do when I read fanfics. because it typically results in alot of inconsistencies and jumping around. I went back and re-read the previous chapters and I hate most of it. If it weren't for the fact that Demyx hasn't shown up yet, I would consider scrapping this. But I guess the revelation is a sign that I'm growing as a writer, so I'll just put up with myself and continue.

Today marks my one-year anniversary for when I started writing, and my brithday was on the 3rd. I got a tablet! Since then, I've been making alot of KH related things (Organization XIII-ish black jacket, shoes, digital art) that are all on deviantArt. (link in profile)

Recommendations:**  
Enslaved**, by kurosora1984 - **/s/5180832/1/Enslaved** - _AkuRoku_ - Whenever she updates, I can't help but go back and reread the preexisting chapters, because her words are just so_powerful_. (That's why she's famous in the KH yaoi fandom!)**  
Duality**, by K49 - **s/4439738/1/Duality** - _Seifer/Hayner _- Okay, so the Seiner pairing is the closest thing I have to an OTP, and this story is like the embodiment of all things comforting and appealing about that couple. Love this story to death. :)  
**Love Your Servant**, by Meleiyu - **s/3751492/1/Love_Your_Servant **- _AkuRoku_ - It's a famous fic, but for anyone who hasn't heard of this, go read it. Now.

See you in three months!

_Bisous, Minikimi_


	7. Oh So Softly

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.

Thank you so much everyone for all the positive support I got in last chapter's reviwes! Sometimes I wish didn't have such a rigorous schedule this year...I wanna talk to you guys more. D:

Anyway, the PSAT was a piece of cake. I took a bunch of practice tests, and my projected score should be around 210! Of course, I always psych myself out and epic fail on the actual test, so maybe it'll be around 190...

Aaaangst.

**Much Love to Aindel S. Druida for Beta-ing. :3**

* * *

**Call Me**  
Oh So Softly

Axel sulked on the corner of Cat Street, his lithe frame hugged by his monochromatic work uniform, trying to protect him from the creeping morning chills that were seeping into the air with the season. Faint smells of engine exhaust and cigarette smoke from other cancerstick lovers wafted in his direction from the busy center of Shibuya, filling his mind with the image of swirling, murky gray smog around a fragile bubble.

Sighing with disgust, Axel snuffed out his own cigarette and tossed it into a nearby garbage-top ashtray in favor of fingering the three permanent pens that hung off his belt loop. _He_ would probably pop if Axel didn't quit soon. Pop and go splat into a million little pieces of left-over gorgeous blond if Axel didn't stop soon.

(He chose to ignore the fact that he'd just mentally referred to Roxas as gorgeous. That would've made him feel like more of a creeper than he already was—no way in hell he'd want that.)

There was probably a reason ashtrays were always attached to the tops of garbage cans. Society was telling him, metaphorically, that he was trash for smoking. A refuse of all things failed in life. The redhead rubbed his temples, wanting to will away the coming headache that seemed to be bugging him more and more often since he started waiting progressively longer between his smoking breaks. He felt like trash.

Scratch that: he _was_ trash.

For one thing, he started college late, paid for the whole damned thing on his own, and was going to be up into his nasal cavity in debt by the time he finished with his third year. Plus, he was still working the same job he'd had since he was in high school and probably wasn't going to put his future chem degree to any use if Zexion didn't start forcing him to pay rent.

Lacking ambition much?

Pouting, the redhead tugged at a ruby strand of hair that had fallen into his face, winding the short bundle around his index finger. Maybe when he saw Roxas later, he wouldn't feel so stupid, maybe he'd feel a bit more at ease or even invigorated. Maybe when he saw Roxas later, he would remember that feeling this was practically (in the legal world) pedophilia. But Zexion said that since Roxas was seventeen, he could legally consent to… _'activities'_… and seventeen really wasn't that far away from twenty-four was it?

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_Fuck_.

A burst of a cough scratched at his throat, and Axel had to bury his face into the crook of his elbow to muffle the lung-hacking sound. Tightness clenched in on his chest and he squeezed the oncoming tears out of the corners of his eyes. His throat felt dry and spiced-up from the cigarette that he'd finished minutes ago, making him sigh awkwardly as he coughed once more, wrinkling his face, annoyed at the way his body was responding to the smoke. Thank god he was considering quitting… Zexion would certainly enjoy that.

_Zexion._

Zexion and Roxas, Roxas and Zexion—lately, that was all Axel could think of. It was like suddenly nothing else existed in his world. The dumbasses in his college classes, the WildKat regulars he used to chat up during the later shifts, the people he'd come to know that lived at his apartment complex were all _gone_ to him. All he could think of now were how Roxas's eyes wrinkled in the corners when he smiled at Zexion. Hadn't someone once told him that real smiles always reached the eyes?

Had any one of the smiles aimed at him ever reached the eyes? Not that he could remember.

The image of Roxas bundled up in his bondage coat swatting away at Zexion's hand as the lilac-haired man patted him on the head was stuck in Axel's head. There was something about the way his studious friend had treated the seventeen-year-old that made an unsettling quivering stir in his chest. There wasn't anything inviting about the little nerd anyway—sure, it was a given that he had brains and sophistication, but it wasn't like Zexion had anything Axel didn't have in the looks departme—

Axel nearly smacked himself. Roxas wasn't that shallow! And even if he was, Axel had no right to think of him that way… For all he knew, it could just be a platonic friendship. Just because they looked content with each other didn't mean they were mutually interested in each other! Kinda like how just because Roxas was comfortable around Sora didn't mean they were into some twincestuous relationship, and just because Roxas never smiled at Axel like he did at Zexion, even when he wasn't smiling back—which seemed to be happening less and less lately, as the lilac-haired man began to _always_ smile back—didn't mean they were both…

_'But you **know**__ Zexion doesn't smile at just anyone,' _a dark part of his mind taunted. '_You_** _know_**_ he doesn't talk to just **anyone**.'_

Annoyance welled up in his throat and salt water gathered in his tear ducts (a byproduct of the city smog, surely…). Why did he have to keep thinking about Zexion and Roxas? And why did he have to feel _jealous_ about it?

_'Because when you let your guard down at Balamb Garden, he **didn't **respond to your accidental flirting.'_

Plain ol' pissed off, Axel pinched his own arm. The pain could be something to focus on until he found a better distraction to stop the taunting thoughts in his head. With a disgruntled sigh, Axel took off toward WildKat Café. He needed to do something or get to someone who could take his mind off things as soon as possible, and if no one could do it, working would.

That wasn't too much to ask for, was it?

"Hey, Sora, you ready?"

Sora splashed a handful of water onto his face, and blindly reached for the fluffy green towel that was always on the ring in the wall by the door. "Don't freak, Rox, we've still got half an hour," he called, swiping the cloth off the metal and burying his face in its plush. Looking up from the mirror, he noticed his front spikes deflated from the water. Sighing, Sora ran his hairdryer on low and dabbled an ample amount (meaning: pinprick, because that's all he really needed) of hair wax onto his index finger. "Are _you_ ready?"

"I'm ready," Roxas sighed from the doorway. "I'm just waiting for the beauty queen to grace me with his perfected visual presence."

Sora glanced at his brother and continued to groom his spikes. "One doth not approve of thy wench's soiled visage." He winced inwardly once the sentence left his lips; it sounded better in his head. Probably because in his head, he'd tittered it instead of accented it like that Luxord guy that worked with Axel.

" 'Soiled' my ass." Had it been anyone else at the bathroom mirror, Roxas's eye roll would have gone unnoticed. "Your 'old-time speak' fails."

"Yeah!" Sora challenged, spinning around, his spikes bobbing perfectly into place, "Well… your hair isn't ready; you look like a chocobo!" And, really, he did look like a chocobo. And not one of those cute, well-groomed ones you found in the petting zoos, but one of those grumpy, maybe-it's-feral-so-don't-make-eye-contact ones he'd once seen in a documentary. Cue shudder much?

Roxas crossed his arms. "Unlike you, I don't have the need to pick and poke at the way I look every time I leave the hou— Hey!"

Laughing jovially, Sora reached over and nabbed his twin by the forearm and dragged him over to the sink. Shooting Roxas a devilish warning grin through the mirror, Sora stripped his brother of his shirt and began filling the wide, pearly sink with water. Before Roxas was able to run off, Sora already grabbed a bottle of shampoo off the edge of the bathtub squirted a dollop into his palms.

"Do you _have_ to use your girly shit on my hair?" He started to back away from the fruity, pink glob, but was unsuccessful in his escape attempt. "You're going to be _late_!"

Sora ignored his brother's complaint, and with one graceful movement, he yelled "brace yourself!", and lowered his brother's head into the water. Luckily, Roxas was smart enough not to struggle and simply went limp against the sink. No need to get brain damage via faucet fixture if he was only trying to escape from getting his hair washed. Besides, Sora was good at this… hair washing… business… Ahhh…

"See? Not so bad, is it?"

"Mmhmm…" Roxas agreed, closing his eyes as his brother lifted his head out of the sink and draped a towel around his shoulders. Yeah… Sora was really good at this…

In a mere twenty minutes, Roxas was free of his semi-bedhead and (by Sora's standards) ready to leave. He couldn't help grinning at his reflection in the mirror as he passed by the front door; his hair looked good. In fact, _he_ looked good.

"Ya know what, Sor?"

"Hmm?"

Roxas smiled and bumped his shoulder against his brother's. "You're really good at this."

"Thanks."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The Esment twins sat side by side, one buzzing in nervous anticipation while the other gazed off into nothingness. While Roxas alternated between fiddling with his jacket hem and picking free-floating scarf fibers off his brother's clothing, Sora couldn't stop thinking about _all the possibilities_.

Sure, he'd spent some alone time with Riku before, but this time felt… different. Together, they'd plotted Axel and Roxas's initial meeting, walked three grueling miles together at a benefit race, shopped for school supplies, chatted at the WildKat with their friends, and posted their autumn hopes at the Balamb Temple. However, nearly all of those times included Sora awkwardly ignoring Riku's increasingly obvious advances. Never had they been preceded by the type of flickering and quivering thrill that shook through the back of his chest. Never had Sora's mind wandered freely down the what-ifs that popped into his head, however private and embarrassing they might be.

_'Why do I keep thinking of this as first date jitters?'_

The train rattled gently down the tracks as it slowed to a stop. Eyes shining with excitement, Sora could hardly contain himself when he caught a glimpse of his this-is-not-a-date-cuz-we're-only-going-as-friends… umm… date. When the sliding doors backed away from each other Sora couldn't keep the man's name from rolling off his tongue; it simply came out as a whisper. He glanced back at Roxas before he got off the stop, receiving everything he wanted and expected in response: a reassuring smile and a quick goodbye nod.

Feeling slightly euphoric and at the top of his game, Sora hopped lightly off the train and onto the platform. The chilling air met his fingertips and he shoved his hands into his pockets. Inside, he felt the smooth outline of a rectangular something against his fingertips and pulled out a small pack of gum. Attached to it was a note: "_Zex told me he likes this smell. Dare you to chew it. Good Luck! –Rox"_

Feeling devious, Sora unwrapped one of the sticks and popped it in his mouth. A pleasant, addicting, and refreshing flavor - paopu with a dash of mint - blossomed over his taste buds. '_Oh,'_he grinned, 'a_nd it's not even my birthday_.'

"Sora?" A firm hand landed on his shoulder and turned him around straight into clear, piercing eyes.

He nearly forgot how to breathe. It was a miracle he didn't swallow his gum right then and there.

"Sora?" the silveret tried again. "Earth to Sora: anyone home?"

"O-oh! Uhm… H-hey, Riku!" '_Have I told you how much you look like a god today?'_

Riku laughed in his elegant, made-with-the-stuff-of-dreams way and grabbed Sora by the hand to lead him out of the crowded station. Silvery-white hair curled around Riku's face, kissing his cheeks with every slight turn and nod he was so inclined to make while weaving through the crowd. Thankful that Riku didn't have eyes in the back of his head, Sora took the precious few moments he had to coach his rapidly reddening face back into neutral. When the couple left the station and sunlight met Riku's body, Sora almost felt like he was watching an alabaster-skinned demigod take his first steps onto mortal earth, and the red rose right back to the surface of his face.

Wow.

Suddenly, Riku became a whole new kind of good-looking. Instead of jealousy, a hint of want bubbled up in Sora's chest when he saw Riku's face and neck. The contrast of Riku's warm skin against his chilly hands felt intimate rather than simply comforting. And that spot where Riku's jawline curved behind his ear? Well, Sora found that particular point very, _very_ attractive.

He… he _was_ still awake, right?

"You coming?" Riku tugged on his shirtsleeve, and Sora noted with a slight, sudden, surprising pang that their hands were no longer connected. "Sora. Either you can catch up on your beauty… zone out… or I can show you around Radiant Garden."

Shaking his head out of the clouds, Sora nodded and stepped lightly up the two steps separating himself from Riku. "Where to?" he asked as they continued to walk down the street.

"Oh, I know a few good places." They stopped as a traffic light flashed red, and the demigod took to leaning nonchalantly against a pole. Sora noted (with a mixture of glee and jealousy) that both men _and_ women were sneaking glances at Riku.

Then Roxas's voice decided to interrupt his thoughts: _"Take your chance; enjoy yourself!"_

_'Easy for you to say, Rox.'_ InnerSoraMind-Roxas scowled, and a nervous fluttering filled his chest._'Fine, fine! Now or never, now or never, now or never… Here goes!'_

"And what exactly is your definition of 'good'?" Sora subtly cocked his head to the right and tapped his index finger against his lips.

It took almost everything he had not to grin stupidly when he saw Riku's eyes dart down to Sora's mouth. And with 'almost everything he had' spent up, it was a miracle Sora didn't squeal triumphantly when he noticed Riku lower his eyelids slightly and wet his lips with his tongue.

"Trust me." The silveret broke his eyes-to-lips stare and shot Sora a crooked grin before stepping between the parallel white lines of the crosswalk. "You'll love it."

In the pit of his stomach, Sora's suspicions that this 'just friends' outing was going to be _nothing_like before cemented into a knowing.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Contrary to popular, prejudiced belief, Riku Gallagher _wasn't_ an idiot. Because his career aspirations tended toward the creative, materialistic world of theater and modeling, his mind was quite usefully adept to reading people.

And Sora—poor, open-hearted, easy-going, lovable, molestable Sora—was so far past the rank of open book that reading him wasn't so much reading as it was viewing and listening to a massive national T.V. broadcast.

And right now, the broadcast was flashing a very blatant: "Riku, I want you".

Which the silveret gladly acknowledged. Something had changed almost overnight inside Sora's head and Riku was ready to take full advantage of the change.

_'Silly, beautiful little boy,'_ Riku chuckled. _'You wanna play? I'm game.'_

"And this is our first stop," Riku announced as they approached a large two-story building with a multitude of flashing lights and jovial teenagers pouring out from its constantly revolving doors. He ushered the teen inside. "Welcome to Radiant Garden's most popular student gaming center. First floor is all things electronic, second floor is purely physical. Take your pick."

He watched with suppressed satisfaction as Sora walked toward the center of the room and took a complete 360-degree spin survey of the games that surrounded him. Halfway through his second turn, his eyes stopped at the crane machine. Sensing the magnetic appeal between Sora and the glass box filled with stuffed animals, Riku quickly grabbed the younger male by the shoulder and directed him toward a small flight of stairs.

"Let's go up to the second floor and see if there's anything else you like up there."

Reluctantly, Sora followed Riku up the stairs. Music drifted down from the above floor along with a slight twang of sweat that made Riku wrinkle his nose unpleasantly. Sora suddenly took a few quick steps and rushed in front of him, tempting ass swaying right in front of Riku's face, the little imp. The moment their heads passed the ground, Sora began inspecting the room. On the second floor were pool tables, foosball tables, ping-pong tables, and…

"AIR HOCKEY!"

The scream nearly blasted Riku's eardrum to bits.

"Yes, Sora," he sighed, a bit sarcastically. "Air hockey,"

The teen ignored him, grabbed him by the hand, and dragged him over to one of the smooth, white tables. The hum of the air running through the millimeter-wide holes on the table was barely audible over the excited yelling of the other college students scattered in clumps around the room.

"Play me," Sora demanded, tugging on Riku's fingers. "Right here, right now."

Riku saw the challenge in his eyes, those potent sapphire eyes, and couldn't help but smirk. "I'mma kick your ass then."

"You can try!" Sora teased as he let go of Riku's hand and rounded the table, sliding off his scarf and unzipping his jacket. He slid one of the paddles over to Riku, who caught it with ease. They paid the fifty-cent fee and three pucks were released on Sora's side of the table.

"Think fast!"

A white puck smashed into the space beside Riku's hand, but the silveret didn't flinch. There was no way he was going to lose to this _kid_. If Axel ever found out, he'd never hear the end of it. Sora might be a one hundred percent molestable piece of adorable brunet, but that wasn't going to stop him. If anything, that was more incentive to win. He'd like to see what Sora looked like riled up and disheveled.

Setting his feet into his fight stance, Riku entered game mode. He trapped the puck between the paddle and table and sent the plastic zigzagging back toward Sora's goal. To his surprise, the adept brunet swung his paddle around and shot the puck straight into Riku's goal.

"Score one for the Sora!" the brunet shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

At that exact moment, Riku grabbed the puck from his side of the table and shot it into Sora's wide-open goal. A beep sounded from the machine, and Sora looked down to see the score tied one to one.

"Hey, that was dirty!"

"All's fair in love and war, my dear Sora." Riku winked, immediately regretting the action. Last time he'd acted like this, Sora pulled away and… no. He wasn't going to psych himself out. Sora's entire being screamed different this time, and he was willing to take full advantage of that and flirt (even if it was somewhat restrained).

Riku looked up just in time to see a dark shadow fall over the teen's blue eyes. Sora swiftly plucked two pucks from his side of the table and shot them both toward Riku, who quickly sent them flying back. The game continued filled with Sora yelling and pointing while Riku muttered profanities under his breath.

Halfway through the game, Sora stopped the now three pucks swimming across the table with his hands and threw his jacket to the floor by his feet. Underneath, he wore a sleeveless red shirt that clung to his slim frame and ended just above the starting of his hipbones, and a silver zipper with two zipper pulls, one on top, one on bottom, stretched across the front center of the shirt. Making deliberate eye contact with Riku, Sora unzipped the front of his shirt so that the zipper hung just at the beginning of the cavity between the start of his ribs. A thin sheen of sweat covered the brunet's neck and chest, making his tanned skin glow.

And from the corner of the cloth, Riku spotted the edge of a dusky, pert nipple.

He began salivating.

_'He looks good flushed, half-naked, and sweaty.'_

Riku couldn't tear his eyes away. Thankfully, his cheeks were already red from the game of air hockey, so the sudden layer of arousal that seeped into his body went mostly unnoticed.

"C'mon, let's get the game moving already!" he urged, wanting to distract his body from reacting. If he showed too much reaction, Sora might freak out; flirting was today's only agenda, and he didn't want to force the brunet back into a hole again—the race incident was bad enough, and to Riku it felt like he had _just_ finished patching their friendship back together.

Just when Riku thought it couldn't get any worse, Sora reached into his back pocket and pulled out a stick of Paopu Mint gum, unpeeled it, and slid it in between his pink lips with a sly smile. The silveret could almost _taste_ Sora's breath.

"Don't make me go over there," Riku warned, feigning a warning tone to cover the huskiness that inevitably slipped into his voice. _'But boy would I **love** to go over there…'_

"Alright, then." Laughing, Sora reached for his paddle and set the pucks up in a row. "You asked for it."

Forty munny later, Riku won an average three games out of four. By the end of the last game, they'd stripped down to shirtless and a small crowd of college girls had gathered around the table, half to ogle Riku, half to coo at Sora. If the floor monitor on duty hadn't been one of the ogling girls, Riku was sure they would've been thrown out for public indecency the moment Sora began stripping down to his skin.

"You win," Sora sighed. "Congratulations."

" 'Congratulations'? Is that all I get?" Riku teased, ruffling Sora's slightly sweaty hair. Sora looked up at him, confused. At the sight of his flushed body, the smell of his sweaty skin, the gaze of his ocean eyes, Riku's body kicked into autopilot. "Winners get a prize, don't they?" Riku forgot to stop himself as he leaned in close to Sora's face so that their lips were inches apart.

"W-what kind of prize?" Sora stammered. Riku didn't answer, but instead pressed closer forward, gauging the distance between their faces so perfectly he could almost taste the brunet. He smirked as Sora's entire face reddened and his expression glazed over with anticipation.

"Like…" he trailed off, staring into Sora's eyes, his arm snaking around the teen's slender waist and his hand sliding into Sora's back pocket as his thumb lightly traced the edge of Sora's waistband. Man, it felt good to just let go and _indulge_ in a little bit of risqué touching, but Riku couldn't let himself slide so far. With some difficulty, he flicked the self-restraint switch in his brain on and stopped himself from melding his lips against Sora's. "Like maybe some of that Paopu Mint gum you've got there."

Quick as lightning, Riku plucked the pack of gum from Sora's back pocket.

"Now," he laughed as he watched Sora's pouty expression, "how much am I allowed to have?"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The hum of the train slowed to a stop, and Roxas got off at Shibuya. Making his way down familiar streets—unfamiliarly alone—he headed toward the WildKat. Around him, the crowd buzzed in a way that was anything but monotonous. With hundreds of people in the city, there was no way Roxas couldn't walk through here without a story blooming in his head.

A couple walking along busy streets, a small, box-shaped bulge in the man's pocket; the taller man stops to duck into a bakery while his brother waits near the door, tapping his foot impatiently while sneaking glances at the egg custards in the window, which his brother inevitably buys; a group of teens wait at the crosswalk, faces covered in piercings, laughing loudly when the petite brunette with snakebites illustrates a story with her hands; a taxi driver stuck in traffic awkwardly while his passengers continue their frantic morning groping in the back of his cab—there was so much life here.

The crosswalk light blinked white and Roxas crossed along with the businessmen, skaters, musicians, and students to the safety of the sidewalk on the other side. Keeping one hand on his messenger bag and the other against his neck under his scarf (he too had forgotten his gloves at home), Roxas weaved his way through the crowd. Soon, the two-story tall Jupiter of the Monkey store adjacent to the WildKat came into view. Dodging a motorist on the side walk, Roxas slipped into the café.

"Hey, Rox-man," Sanae Hanekoma called from behind the bar. "You lookin' for Josh and Phones or The Axe?"

"Uhm, all three?" Roxas replied, scanning the room as he took a seat on a barstool. "Just… Have you seen a pretty blonde and her pink-haired friend here lately?"

"Ooh… you just missed them." He made that half-wincing face that Roxas never quite understood how to describe. "They came in here yesterday asking for Axel, but it was before his shift. He's on break now with Josh." He put down the pot of house coffee he'd been holding and leveled his face with Roxas's. "By the way, was the pink-haired one a dick or a chick?"

"I'm still trying to figure out myself," the blond managed to smirk. "The flat chest leans toward male though."

"Damn shame… Fair 'nuff, I guess. The pretty ones are always transvestites or lesbians." The barista laughed casually.

Roxas sighed and slumped against the bar. Good God. Now Naminé and Marluxia were actively_looking_ for Axel. He should probably have taken Naminé more seriously two nights ago when she threatened to go find the older man herself if Roxas didn't hurry up and introduce them. Why did he have to pick up his cell? He should've just turned the damn thing off…

"You just gonna sit there or are you gonna order something?" Roxas looked up to see Mr. Hanekoma's no-nonsense face staring down at him. "I have paying customers that could replace you."

"I'll be moving now, _sir_."

Sighing and rolling his eyes (in good nature, of course), Roxas went to go find a seat on one of the couches. '_No Zexion today,_' he thought, frowning. Still, he pulled his laptop out from his messenger bag and clicked in the password. He'd been looking forward to giving Zexion the flashdrive with all the story file copies he'd requested. Instead, two girls took the lilac-haired man's usual seat, one sitting in the other's lap. The one sandwiched between her friend and the red cushions looked like she was Atlantican, red-haired and clear-eyed; they didn't get many people from Atlantica in Hearts.

Atlantica. Demyx. Just one more week before Winter Break started over at the University of Atlantica, right? He'd have to check when Sora came home later. The house was getting monotonous since Kairi and Naminé's parents came home; co-ed sleepovers were generally frowned upon by their mother, especially since Roxas wasn't exactly open about his orientation to the general public and she still thought Sora was with Kairi.

Turning his attention away from that train of thought, he opened up an essay file on his computer and pulled out the hand-written rough draft of his essay. Might as well get started, right?

"Zexion's not here today." Roxas knew that voice. What an odd way to greet him.

"I'm not here for Zexion," the blond sighed. Eyes still focused on the screen, he began to type furiously, which was interrupted when a slender body, close enough to touch fully arm to arm, settled into the seat next to him. With a shock, Roxas looked up to see Axel grinning down at him.

"G'morning then," the lanky waiter greeted.

"Hello, Axel."

When Axel casually slung an arm over his shoulders, Roxas covered his unexplainable smile by pretending to cough into his scarf.

'_Why am I still wearing this?_'

Chuckling to himself, the blond removed the wrap around his neck and settled back into the plush red couch with Axel's arm still slung around him. The redhead leaned over and looked at his screen.

"Homework or story?" he asked. Since when had Axel known about Roxas's writing? Whatever…

"Homework, unfortunately." Roxas frowned and sighed. "Did you happen to see a pretty blonde girl and a pink-haired guy walk in here yesterday?"

"Nope." The tattoo-faced man tapped a finger to his temple and grinned. "And I never forget a face," he boasted.

"… You'd forgotten mine when we first met."

Awkwardly, Axel half-hugged the blond and ruffled his hair, which caused Roxas to swat his hand away. "I meant when I'm sober," he clarified. "I, uhh… I don't get drunk anymore, remember?"

"Mm," Roxas replied, fixating his eyes back to the screen.

"Yeah," Axel answered lamely.

They fell silent. Trying to ignore the rapidly growing awkwardness, Roxas zoned almost completely out of the room. Dully, his mind registered the weight of Axel's arm retreat from around his shoulders to the space between their bodies. Feeling somewhat naked now, he snuggled closer into the couch cushions with his laptop.

"… So do you want something to eat?"

Roxas's stomach growled; he'd skipped breakfast.

"Soup would be nice," he answered, suddenly afraid to look up. "The usual kind, please."

The warm weight against his arm released and the dip in the couch filled with nothingness. From his peripheral, he watched Axel's lanky figure saunter over to the counter to relay his order, every step thudding a muffled hollow feeling into his chest.

'_Why did I even come here today?'_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

His heart had pounded so hard he thought he was going to explode. This was the first time Sora had ever tried flirting with someone, and by the Gods, was it _thrilling_! Especially now since Riku had suddenly decided to play along. Screw the fact that he'd assumed Riku would stay the role of recipient-only… Things were so much more _fun_ when it was mutual.

Sure, people had flirted with him before, but it had never been someone Sora was actually interested in. Never in his dreams would he have seen himself flirting with a guy who looked like he belonged on the pages of PlayGirl or a male underwear ad. Yeah, Riku would do really well as an underwear model, Mr. Pretty-Hair-Perfect-Ass.

The image of Riku modeling a pair of silk boxers hanging just off his hips popped into his head, pulling along a blush and a chuckle Sora had to suppress.

_'Those are dirty thoughts, Sora, dirty thoughts!'_

As they descended the steps to the first floor, Sora's eyes fell toward the glass box filled with stuffed animals. A menacing looking crane dangled from the top, and Sora could imagine the little animals near the top of the pile screaming in terror as the crane came down on them while the animals at the bottom of the pile tried to claw their way out through the glass. He would pay to see an animated version of that stuffed purple giraffe try to escape.

Just as he was about to look away, something glossy and grayish-blue near the top of the animal pile caught his eye.

Without realizing it, Sora had walked toward the box and his fingertips were pressed up against the transparent glass. Laying innocently face down on the top of the heap, donning a silky, aqua ribbon, was a white-blue teddy bear a little bigger than the size of his head. In the glass's reflection, he saw a translucent Riku come up from behind him. Putting on his best pouty face, Sora turned around and crossed his arms.

"Win me that bear."

Riku stood for a moment and blinked. "Isn't that something people do on a date? I thought you said this was just a friend… thing."

"… Friends win friends bears too," Sora reasoned. Inside, he giggled. That almost sounded like 'friends don't let friends drive drunk.'

Riku pulled out his wallet and went to go feed two paper notes into the adjacent coin munny machine. Sora noted with a certain satisfaction that he'd been given a perfect free view of Riku's shapely behind and that no one else could see it from this angle. He came back with eight coins in hand, but quickly snatched his hand away as Sora began to reach for the coins.

"What makes you think I'll win a bear for you?" Riku smirked. "Zex and Ax never made me win them bears."

"That's probably because Axel won bears for both of you," Sora scoffed.

"… Touché."

Sora chuckled and gazed longingly toward the glass. "So are you good enough to win me that bear?"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

There it was again, the feisty undertone to Sora's pleading voice. If he got into a habit of using that voice, either Riku was going to lose his pride or someone was losing his clothes. He'd acquiesced, fearing the latter.

Throughout the entire trip so far, a nagging feeling had slowly begun plaguing his mind: Riku wasn't sure about Sora's intentions. If he was reading the teen properly, then something had definitely changed inside Sora's head, and that something was allowing Riku to grope the brunet without any minus-one-fucking-adorable-potential-boyfriend consequences.

He slipped the coin munny into the slot at the bottom of the machine and maneuvered the claw so that it was just above the white-blue bear's fuzzy behind.

"This the one?"

"Yeah."

Rounding the side of the glass box, Riku surveyed the position of the claw—it was in perfect position. He went back to the joystick and pressed the red button. The claw dropped down and pinched the bear's behind firmly only to drop it on its face and roll into an upright position.

"That was so fail," Sora teased.

'_Oh, he doesn't know the plan yet._' Riku smirked and slipped his second five-munny piece into the machine. Within seconds, the crane had grappled the bear's head and deposited it into the square slot. Smug, Riku bent over and fished the stuffed animal out of the box.

"Here ya go." Riku handed the toy to Sora with a cocky grin on his face. Delighted, the teen held the bear up to the light, an action reminiscent of The Lion King.

"Hey, his fur turns white in the light," Sora observed. "I'm gonna name him Riku-Bear!"

Riku cocked an eyebrow. "You're naming a stuffed bear after me?"

"Naturally."

A mischievous grin rose to Riku's face. "Does this mean I get a Sora-Bear then?"

"Umm…" The brunet laughed awkwardly, squeezing the bear to his chest with one arm while the other habitually went to scratch behind his head. "I… don't know… I mean, I kinda… umm…"

"C'mon, it's only fair."

"B-but I suck at these things!" Sora blurted out, blushing.

'_Oh, really?_' Riku pulled a more paper munny from his pocket, intent on exchanging it for coins. "Then let me teach you."

"H-how?" The skeptical brunet held onto his bear protectively.

"Just relax and let me show you," Riku chuckled, bringing back his exchanged munny from the machine. "Now, stand here." He pointed to the spot in front of the claw machine and Sora did as he was told.

Riku scanned the glass box for another bear that was easy to grab. Near the back corner sat a brown bear with a pink bow, the same basic make as Sora's.

"Go for the brown one with the pink bow, and try to make sure that you've got the right angle by checking the glass from different angles," he instructed. It shouldn't have been too hard to grab, seeing as how it was in a corner, on top of everything else, and face up, practically waiting to be nabbed. Sora, however, missed. And then missed again. And again. And again…

Fifty munny later, Riku decided to intervene.

"Here," he murmured as he came up behind Sora and stood so close his chest was almost pressed against Sora's back, "maybe it'll be easier this way."

Riku's arms slipped around Sora's waist and brushed the smooth insides of his thin arms. A pleasantly cool jolt of satisfaction curled up in the base of Riku's back when he felt the boy in his arms shudder in contentment. Stepping just a small bit closer, Riku's chest brushed against Sora's back and forced the teen to stand with his pelvis barely leaning against the hard edge of the claw machine.

The backs of Sora's hands felt rough-but-smooth and warm against his spindly fingers. Careful not to alert the younger male, Riku leaned forward and took a long, silent whiff of Sora's hair.

Gods, he smelled amazing. Fresh, sweet, energetic… Sora was nothing like his previous boyfriends. Nothing.

"Just follow my lead," he whispered, again noting the way Sora shook slightly when he brought his face cheek-to-cheek with the younger male and rested his chin on Sora's shoulder. Sora nodded, his hair bouncing slightly, which made the brunet's spikes tickle the college student's face. Riku inhaled quietly once more and surreptitiously pressed the tip of his nose against the chaos of chocolate locks. Yeah, something had definitely changed with Sora's thinking.

An onset of boldness overcame his body, and Riku felt himself press fully—but lightly—against Sora's back. Chuckling at the slight jump he caused, Riku let his arms encase Sora's slim body.

"You have to get this claw right over the bear's head from both angles," he instructed in a low, seductive whisper, moving his hand over Sora's. "Think of it as finding coordinates on an X-Y plane."

"Like this?"

Sora's voice was like sweet, sweet chocolate.

"Perfect." He felt the hands under his twitch at the sound of his breathy voice.

Guided by Riku, Sora had the claw positioned perfectly above the bear within moments. The silveret ran his thumb lightly over the length of Sora's hand before he pressed down on the red button that made the claw dip into the sea of polyester filling to retrieve the pink-bowed bear. Riku backed off as Sora bent over to fish out the stuffed animal.

"Here…" he held out brown bear toward Riku. "Now you can have one of me."

Riku took the bear from Sora's hands and pressed the back of its head against his lips to cover his smile. "Just one?"

Sora blushed.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The clock's minute hand finally clicked into its place beneath the twelve—it was finally noon. Tired hands lifted a classic black apron off even more tired shoulders, past a mess of spiky red hair, and dropped the fabric to the table.

From the corner of his eye, Roxas watched Axel slump into his seat at the bar. Hopefully the redhead would lose the cigarettes and actually eat something during his lunch break while the guy who worked weekend shifts—Luxord, was it?—relieved him of his duties.

Roxas had abandoned his homework an hour ago in favor of stress relief. On screen sat the typed-up memory of his first redhead-inclusive dream, mocking and elusive. He poured over the words, reliving the experience until his face was flushed from embarrassment.

What was that dream supposed to mean? After all, he'd only know Axel for… What was it? The end of June, July, August… September… and now it was mid-November…

_'Woah.'_

A wave of realization overcame Roxas's slim, athletic body: it had been a little over five months since he met the redhead, and in that time, his life had managed to make a left turn somewhere directly into having a social life. Senior year was supposed to be his year of goodbyes and preparing for college—Roxas never counted on actually having friends this year.

He buried his face in his hands, smoothing his fingers over his closed, sore eyes. It almost felt like all his years of high school were building up with shit just so he could have this one last amazing year with Axel.

With. Axel.

Hmm.

"I'm loving the hair."

"Uhm… thanks?" He looked up to see Joshua standing before him, smug grin and all (because what would Joshua be without it, right?).

"So…" the boy hummed, bending over to peek at Roxas's screen, his hair falling down onto the keyboard, "whatcha doin'?"

The blond frantically clicked the window shut and stared at his essay.

"Nothing."

"Liar." Joshua smirked and tucked a wavy strand of silvery-gray hair behind his ear. "Let me see that."

He slid into the seat beside Roxas and leaned in so that his body blocked Roxas's view of the screen. Slightly panicked, Roxas clapped his hands over Joshua's eyes, effectively crushing his friend's head against his chest.

"There's nothing to see! I-I'm just doing my essay for Gainsborough's class."

Smooth fingers pried his hands off of the silveret's face. "Sure, Roxas," he smiled, chuckling. "I believe you."

"Go away," Roxas groaned. "I need to finish this as soon as possible so I can move on to Leon's assignments."

From somewhere in the café, an accented voice called out for Joshua to get back to work.

"Whatever you say." Joshua stood up, intent on getting back to work. "But I'll bet anything you were just thinking of Axel."

"Shut up."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Twelve-o-clock found Sora and Riku sitting at one of the small cafés adjacent to the gaming center, nabbing a solid lunch, each with their teddy bears sitting on their laps. Sora sipped his soda happily as Riku dug into his shrimp and corn salad.

"So, Riku," Sora smiled, "you go to RGU?"

"Drama major," he boasted, flipping his moonsilk hair and batting his eyelashes. "Can't you tell?"

Sora chuckled and picked up his sandwich. Sitting with Riku, gorgeous god of all things sexy… salad never looked so good.

"Tell me about the drama department at RGU," Sora requested, taking a bite of his sandwich. The bread was fluffy and golden on the outside, the lettuce crisp and fresh, the turkey lightly honeyed, and juicy sweet tomato juice dribbled down the side of his chin. Embarrassed, he set the sandwich down and reached for a napkin, only to have Riku lean over and wipe away the juice with his finger.

"Got a spot there," he mumbled, hesitating before he wiped his finger on the napkin. An awkward silence invaded the space between them, and Sora picked his food back up.

"A-anyway, the drama department at RGU is… filled with drama."

Sora stared at him blankly. "Really."

"Really," Riku deadpanned. "Let's talk about you. What do you want to do after high school?"

"Well…" he began, and left the sentence trailing as he looked down at his sandwich and took another bite.

"Well?"

After a full chew and swallow, he sighed. "I don't know."

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? Aren't you a senior this year?"

Sora lowered his gaze to watching Riku stab his salad. "Well, yeah, but it's not like I can decide_now_, ya know? I mean, these things take time; I can't just go and decide what I want to do with the rest of my life right now." He frowned. "It's such an important decision, and I don't want to spend years working toward some degree for a job I might end up hating."

"Mm."

"And it's not like I'm particularly good at anything, so the whole 'just go with your talent' thing doesn't really work for me."

"Well," Riku smiled, poking at one of the vinaigrette-splattered shrimp, "you're good with hair, right?"

Sora sighed. "Yeah, but that won't get me anywhere in life. At least, not according to my counselor. She thinks I 'shouldn't waste my talent doing such frivolous things as _hair'_." He mimicked a high-pitched, slightly nasally voice and rolled his eyes.

The model-like man laughed. "All due respect to your counselor, but she is an idiot. Not everyone can cut and style hair well, ya know? Assuming you cut your own hair and all…" Sora nodded affirmatively, but gave him a skeptical look. "No, seriously, believe me: I've seen what the wanna-be actresses in my department try to pull off and it's _hideous_."

"Really?"

"Really," Riku laughed. "I saw a girl try to style her hair into a rainbow fauxhawk—which would've been totally badass if she'd done it right—but she ended up walking around campus looking like a gay tranny clown with awful sex hair."

Sora chuckled and watched the piece of shrimp waving around on the end of Riku's fork in amusement. If the man talked with his hands, what else did he do with them…?

"Have you ever considered going professional? I mean, look at yourself: you've got a killer sexy 'do and a face that I'm sure any self-respecting heterosexual female or gay male would fantasize about before bedtime—I bet with some professional training, you'd be perfect for high-end hairdressing."

Sora smirked and looked up at Riku from under his eyelashes. "Are _you_ one of those self-respecting gay men?" His gaze was met with equally amused eyes.

"Maybe."

The rest of lunch passed in jovial chatter, and by two in the afternoon, the pair stood outside a theater, teddy bears sitting comfortably in their arms, ready to buy tickets for a mid-day movie. Sora couldn't have asked for a better way to spend his weekend.

"Done with the zone-out, princess?"

Sora laughed and bumped Riku's shoulder. "Shaddup. Let's go inside."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The theater was dark, and Sora had gone to relieve himself after downing a cup and a half of soda. Inside, Riku managed to save himself and his non-date a pair of seats in the back corner of the theater.

He'd been confused earlier, now he was absolutely positive: there was _no_ way the boy he'd been running around Radiant Garden with for the past five hours was the same one he'd hung out with at the race back in August.

No. Fucking. Way.

_'Because we both still insist on playing with each other like a couple of horny kittens.'_

The analogy brought a vision to Riku's mind and a smirk to his lips. Sora in a collar, eh? The mind was a wonderful thing sometimes…

"There you are," a voice whispered and slid into the seat beside him. "Miss me?"

_'Time to kick it up a notch.'_

"You don't even know," Riku replied, a hint of a moan coloring the end of his words. He felt Sora stiffen in the seat beside him, his Paopu Mint-dyed breath began coming out in suddenly short pants. Feeling bold, Riku leaned in closely and pinched a soft, spiked tip of chocolate hair between his fingertips, playing with the strand and letting his breath ghost over the boy's neck.

Sora shuddered pleasurably and hugged the white bear close to his chest. "Umm… Riku, I—"

On screen, a loud explosion sounded. The entire theater hushed and the words 'Are you ready?' flashed across the screen. His inner tease took over and Riku suddenly backed off, content on sliding popcorn between his lips, one exploded kernel at a time. Beside him, Sora huffed in agitated disappointment.

This was going to be a great movie.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It was three in the afternoon, and Roxas was ready to cry.

Or punch one of Marluxia's potted plants. Whichever came first.

Why did Ms. Gainsborough have to be such a closet bitch? Sure, she was all smiles, baking, and flowers—not to mention permanently chilled out—but sometimes he felt like it was all a pretense to make up for her district-famous tough assignments and strict grading. Damn.

A petit, annoyed growl sounded from the back of his throat, and Roxas leaned back against the plush, ruby red couch. He glanced over to where the two girls had been sitting (one on the other girl's lap) just in time to see the Atlantican lean up and press a tentative kiss against the corner of her friend's lips, which was soon reciprocated with a full on mouth-to-mouth. Embarrassment filled his cheeks, so Roxas averted his gaze, only to meet eyes with Axel, whose expression had a minor tinge of 'Finally…' leaking through via smile.

To his surprise, Axel got up from his seat at the counter, gathering papers Roxas hadn't seen the redhead pull out, and walked with a confident, sexy strut that Roxas could have melted into a puddle of goo from right over to where he was sitting.

"May I join you?"

"Yeah, sure."

He slipped into the adjacent seat and began thumbing through the textbook he placed on his lap. They sat in silence, Roxas typing away on his laptop, Axel reading and sipping his… tea? Funny. Axel and tea. Faintly, Roxas noticed the sound of pages turning had stopped and looked up to see Axel gazing blankly into the small crowd of patrons.

"You noticed the lesbian lovebirds."

He nodded, blushing, and stared at the mug between Axel's hands. Axel had nice hands with long, lightly elegant, perfectly shaped fingers; Demyx would have called them guitar hands.

"They're a pair of my favorite regulars," Axel continued. "I've talked to the redhead once when she was here by herself—her name's Felicia—and she's been pining for her best friend since she entered high school."

"How old are they now?" Roxas asked, interest piqued.

"Tessa is a sophomore and Felicia is a junior."

"How long have they been together?"

"Actually," Axel smiled, lips going soft and eyes gazing out the window as he stopped to sip his tea, "I think that was their first kiss."

The same soft expression settled into Roxas's eyes as he regarded the girls with a new light. Movement flickered in the corner of his vision, and he turned to meet Axel's gaze head-on.

"That's wonderful," he mused, opening a new document on his laptop.

"Isn't it?"

Axel settled into the couch next to him, eyes glued to the computer screen. Normally, Roxas was self-conscious about other people being around him when he was writing, but…

This felt comfortable.

"Ya know," Axel chuckled, "I almost wanted to put mistletoe above the door before they came in this morning, but it looks like they don't need it." Roxas laughed and began typing.

She's so quiet. Sometimes when her eyes glaze over while she stares out the window, I wonder if her head is filled with thoughts like mine or if it's blank and at peace. It's always so hard to tell what she's thinking, dark eyes, long straight hair, thin pink lips and all. It's always so hard to tell if I should get closer or not, if she'll notice when I lean in to sniff her hair, rest my chin on her shoulder and resist the urge to kiss her neck, her shoulders, her eyelids, her forearms, cheeks, nose, lips, collarbone, stomach, breasts…

A soft chuckle sounded from the space beside his ear, and Roxas suddenly was aware of Axel's lips close to his neck, his chin resting on Roxas's shoulder. "Is your writing always this sexual?"

"Shut up," Roxas laughed, elbow-bumping Axel's side. "Like you could do any better."

"You're right; I can't," he sighed, leaning away and brushing the back of his finger along Roxas's cheek. His breathing stopped. "That was a compliment."

Roxas blushed and returned his gaze toward his computer screen. His fingers shook subtly as he continued to key out the words that scrolled across the page in a constant beat.

"By the way, Roxy, I like your hair. Makes you look like a badass chocobo." Axel made a movement to finger the tip of one of the blond spikes. He blushed, but didn't swipe the hand away.

"… Did you really just call me 'Roxy'?"

"Yeah." Axel confirmed, cocky grin faltering only slightly. " 'S that okay?"

"Umm…" He paused, weighing the nickname in his mind. Well, it was better than getting called Rucksack—he'd gotten enough of that freshman year from the star of the Struggle team. "Yes. Sure."

"Cool."

And so they sat for hours, Roxas typing away on his lime-colored laptop, Axel making interjections as he alternately did his homework and read the lines that slowly blossomed across the page while the tap-tap-tapping of Roxas's fingers against the keys set a comforting background track to the afternoon.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The sun barely had begun to brush the horizon when Sora and Riku left the theater. They left as couples began to filter in through the multiple double door entrances, no doubt beginning their movie and a dinner dates that would or wouldn't end up in the bedroom.

Normally, Sora would've been talking a mile a minute after a movie, but this time was different. Because, even though he and Riku had chosen a family film for their this-is-not-a-date-cuz-we're-only-going-as-friends date, there had been an undeniable spark of sexual attraction inside the theater.

Sure, Sora had no problem with going to a movie with a talker, but it became a wholly different issue when said talker decided to lean over and whisper his sentences seductively against your ear at every opportune moment. Sora didn't mind sharing popcorn with people either, but that also became a problem when his fingers met Riku's inside the bucket and a static shock of dirty thoughts rippled through his body.

How many times had he heard his friends at school talk about how they'd gotten a full-blown make-out session with their girlfriends in the back of the theater?

Quiet, Sora hugged Riku-Bear close to his chest and ran his fingers through the silver fur. So much for the not-date.

"Hey, Sora?"

"Mm?"

"Don't you have a train to catch?" A sinking sensation overcame the brunet.

"Yeah, I do…"

"Can I walk you to the station?"

The walk to the station was lightly strained, and Sora sulked at the feeling that his perfect weekend was going to be over. The entire way there, Sora listened to his silver-haired friend prattle on about the shops they were passing, saying how he would bring Sora there on their next trip. He dazed through the shop names, nodding slightly with every comment, dropping the occasional 'that's nice' or 'sounds good' whenever prompted. As they neared the station, Riku lapsed into silence.

"Here we are," the silveret announced as they came around the corner to the front of Radiant Garden's Sunnyside Station. "Today was really fu—"

"Do you want to come to Twilight Town with me?" Sora blurted out, face reddening the moment the words parted from his lips.

"What?"

"I-I mean… Umm… please?"

A soft smile unlike anything Sora had ever seen settled onto Riku's lips. "Yeah, sure."

Feeling a little better, Sora parted his right hand from Riku-Bear to grab his friend's sleeve. "I have something to show you."

Riku followed obediently, quiet (except for when he insisted on paying for both his _and_ Sora's tickets), patiently waiting to see what the brunet was going to do. Midway through meandering through the crowd, Sora grabbed Riku's hands, claiming not wanting the model-like man to get lost.

When they boarded the train, their hands remained connected.

And when they got off the train, Sora hugged himself against Riku's arm and began to silently direct the man around with points and waves around the city. They hiked up the hilly roads, stopping only once for Riku to bend down and tie Sora's shoe, until they reached a part of the city that merged with the ocean.

"The beach?" Riku asked, enjoying the feeling of having the brunet attached to his arm.

"Yes."

"In the winter?"

"Mmhmm… Hurry up or we'll miss it!"

"Huh?" Riku turned around to see that Sora had disconnected himself from Riku's arm and had begun running further down the road. Intrigued, Riku followed, a smile growing on his face when he saw Sora's figure again, standing serenely on top of a hill. He slowed to a walk as he made his way up the last curve of the swirl around the hill and was met with the sight of a calm, content Sora laying in the grass.

"Where is this?" Riku asked, joining the younger male on the grass.

"This is Sunset Hill," Sora replied, eyes closed, sunlight hitting his face in a way that made his skin glow. "It's my most favorite spot in the world."

Riku watched, entranced as Sora slowly slid off his scarf and unzipped his jacket. The sun was beautiful here, really. It dyed everything with a subtle glow, like the hill was made of summer, like they were in their own little world, disconnected from the rest of humanity.

Riku watched Sora bask in the glow of the sun, and Riku watched Sora's breathing slow into a steady beat, and Riku watched Sora's skin raise gooseflesh in the winter air, and Riku watched Sora's lips part so softly as he relaxed into a zen-like state, and Riku watched Sora shudder as he brushed his fingers along the boy's exposed skin, and Riku watched Sora's lips curve into a smile as he bent down, closer, closer, closer toward the boy, silver hair brushing tanned cheek, and Riku watched Sora's eyelids flutter as their lips met in the glow of the gold-orange sun on top of Sunset Hill, their most favorite place in the world.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Miles away, performing at the ferry dock in Atlantica with his skateboard strapped securely against his backpack and tuning his guitar between songs, Demyx Esment was all packed up and ready to go home for Winter Break.

* * *

I'm back! How was everyone while I was gone? I'd love to hear from you. Oh, and while I was away, I started a cowrite with Nitlon: /s/5364530/1/Technicolor_Tuesday

Also, I finished playing 358/2 Days (almost two weeks ago...) and I wrote a oneshot about Axel and Roxas. It's got some spoilers, and it's an angstbucket, but... yeah. People have cried. I cried when I wrote it: /s/5443673/1/Winner

_Bisous, Minikimii_

[P.S. As of 01.01.11, I swear vengeance on the one who is responsible for my page breaks disappearing!]


	8. Induction

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.

Okay, first off, I have some exciting news to share: Remember the reason I had to take a break? Yeah, those gosh durn PSATs?

I pwn'd them hard enough to beat 99 percent of all the other juniors who took it in the US (scored a 214). Let's just hope my scores shot me high enough into the .5 percentage and to maybe qualify for the National Merit Scholarship! :3  
But I won't find out until September of next year. :/

Anyway, enough about me. Point is, the time I took off from writing was worth something. :)

Many thanks to **Nitlon** for guest-Beta-ing along with **Aindel S. Druida**. Go shower them both with love when you finish reading, please? I'm so grateful to have these two to help me out.

Happy Holidays, everyone! This is my gift to you.

* * *

**Call Me**  
Induction

The rhythm of a train rolling over subterranean tracks was only soothing until he was jolted out of his daze when a somewhat obese middle-aged man "accidentally" rubbed up against him as the train made a semi-bumpy stop. Thankful that it was his place to get off, the blond stepped out of the train and onto the platform of Twilight Town's Sunnyside Station, barely anything but a single backpack slung over his shoulder.

Without thinking, he took a seat on the nearest bench and pulled out a few sheets of paper from his backpack. Might as well spend his waiting time productively, right?

But it was so funny how one city smelled differently than the other, how the air would sometimes feel uplifting while in other places, the smog would clog your pores, and the entire weight of the air was so unique in every place that it felt like another world. Maybe he could write something new about this…

He was so absorbed in his sheet music, idly rolling his foot around back and forth across his skateboard, enjoying the rhythm of the wheels dipping in and out of the crevice in the cement, that normally he would have barely noticed two girls dressed in skinny jeans and black pea coats staring at him from four feet away. Since the last semester he'd spent at U of A focused on the ear training portion of a music degree, every word was crystal clear once he zoned in on the conversation.

"Is that him?"

"Oh my god, I think it is!" the other girl squealed, clapping her hands to her mouth. "He looks exactly the same from the back!"

Trying to hide the sly grin on his face, the blond turned around and scratched his neck, moving the collar of his jacket down just far enough to reveal the tip of his checkered star tattoo that he was so famous for in the underground music scene.

"It's him, it's him, it's him!"

At which point he began laughing. The sound of feet jumping on pavement was almost too much, and the blond guitarist slipped the papers back into his bag and retrieved his skateboard from the ground. Smirking playfully, he stood up.

"Oh my god, he's coming over here! Do you think we should ask—"

"Yo, Demyx!"

The blond turned to see his younger twin brothers, one glaring and one smiling—as usual—accompanied by their seldom-seen father. With a sigh, Demyx rerouted his path and met his three family members.

Sora and Roxas had gotten taller since Demyx last saw them, and his father still looked trapped inside a constant state between aging and youthful.

"Yo, squirts!" He nodded at his father. "And old geezer."

Demyx saw Roxas roll his eyes and watched as Sora and their father set upon punishing him (which consisted of messing with the blond's perfectly groomed hair). On the surface, Roxas seemed unfazed, but Demyx _knew_ in exactly twenty seconds, Roxas would pounce their father with his own sneak attack and switch Demyx's place with Sora's before their dad had time to adjust his spike-prodding.

_Six…_

_Five…_

_Four…_

_Three…_

_Two—_

Roxas pounced.

'_Or not, apparently,'_ Demyx decided. Things had changed while he was gone. "Shit happens," he mused aloud.

"You have no idea," Roxas groaned as Aeron Esment let go of his only brunet son and they fell into walk-and-talk comfortably.

It was good to be back in Twilight Town.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Zexion lounged on the usual red couch at the WildKat, his right fist propping his head up as he thumbed through _History of Olympus _for the fourth time in the last year. On the table sat another book (_Atlantica's Aquatic Life_—intended for light reading) and a cup of near-finished coffee. In the background, the café's endless playlist of up and coming musicians melted into a new song by The Melodious Nocturne.

He rather liked the voice washing through the café via ceiling speakers; it reminded him of summer—a welcome feeling, seeing as how the world outside the café felt like a glacial assault to his neck. Perhaps he should start wearing scarves. Everyone else had, after all…

Rubbing his sore eyes, Zexion set down his book and looked out the window of a wall facing Cat Street. The snow outside was slushy and turning black due to the obscene amount of pedestrians littering the sidewalk. Around the glass wall of the WildKat, crystal mounds of freezing snow glittered in the sunlight, melting and icing over to create a slick, painful-if-thrown, kind of slush. Winter was well on its way, which made for good news because it meant he could begin drinking soup more often without getting strange looks from the other café-goers. Bouillabaisse served at the WildKat was an ever-necessary staple food that kept the lilac-haired student from lapsing into monotonous insanity.

After a few moments of pointless gazing, Zexion spotted a familiar blond making his way down the pavement toward WildKat Café.

"Axel," he called out to the redhead a few feet away, "your boyfriend's here." From the back of the café, Sanae Hanekoma laughed and Joshua snickered.

Zexion ducked and held the hardcover _History of Olympus _to block Axel's oncoming listless punch.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend," the waiter protested. "Neither of us is interested."

Zexion smirked (well, as much as he could)—there were things Axel didn't know. The lanky twenty-three-year-old shot him a glare, but the sexy nerd's 'smirk' simply morphed into a 'Zexion grin' as Roxas stepped through the door.

"Hey, Zex. Sorry I'm late. Had to meet the older brother at the station." Roxas greeted as he took the seat adjacent to Zexion. The teen spotted Sanae working in the back and gave him a quick salute, which was reciprocated with an equally relaxed motion of a half-wave. As for Axel and Joshua, he met the waiters' eyes and nodded once to each male, recognizing their presences with a smile.

"Did you bring the sheets?"

"Nope," Roxas replied, surprisingly nonchalant. "I did bring it on a flash drive though. Just pop it in and get started, I guess." He pulled out a bright green laptop from his schoolbag and opened it on the table before them. "My printer was out of ink."

Zexion sat back and watched as Roxas pulled out a small black flash drive from somewhere inside his school bag. The blond set it down on the table, his hand quickly returning to his bag as he pulled out a power cord for his computer.

"I'll get that for you," Zexion offered. He took the cord from Roxas's hands and quickly found the nearest power outlet to plug it into.

"Thanks!" Roxas smiled the moment his screen lit up a few degrees brighter. The lilac-haired man just leaned back and smiled.

He watched Roxas click around a his computer for a few minutes, admiring the way the teen's fingers ran across the keys quickly like it was nothing at all. Even though everyone had told him he had pianist's fingers, Zexion doubted he'd be able to type nearly as quickly nor as accurately as his younger friend could.

'_ "Friend".'_ Zexion mentally snickered. _'Now **that** is an interesting concept.'_

"Is this the file you were talking about?" Zexion leaned forward and pointed at the file name '01_White'. Roxas nodded and double-clicked the file. The document opened up just as he turned his computer toward Zexion. The older male scooted to the edge of the couch and pulled the laptop closer. Without looking up, the purple-haired man beckoned the nearest waiter over to take Roxas's order.

"You could be a little more polite about that," Joshua chuckled as he passed with a tray full of empty dishes.

Zexion smirked at the screen. "Just take his order already."

"Roxas," the gray-haired teen addressed him. "You're looking rather chilled today. May I suggest an extra hot Axel with a dollop of crème and a dash of cinnamon? It certainly would do you some good."

The blond rolled his eyes and laughed. "No, that's perfectly fine, but I'll have the usual."

"A blowjob from Akuseru Flynn?" Roxas flushed instantaneously. "Is that a 'yes' I see on your cheeks? Oh, how cute."

From behind the counter, Hanekoma called, "Stop fooling around and do your job, Josh!" Complying, said waiter withdrew with a slight nod of the head. Without the distraction of the highly sexual teen around him, Zexion began reading the story on the screen:

**_White_**

_Blood. So much blood._

_It decorates my hands with its scarlet luster and permeates the surrounding air with its metallic aroma. One glance around the room reveals the walls are splattered with the liquid life still dripping down cracked walls__. Blood pools amongst the bullet shells that rebounded off the solid concrete and on to the floor. Even the glass window in the high corner of the ceiling sheds cracked pieces of itself into the floor._

_Drenched in absolute sense-blinding panic, I clench my fingers around the cold solid in my hands—_

"I-is it okay?"

Zexion looked up to see his blond friend staring anxiously at his hands. Face flushed and breathing uneven, it seemed as if Roxas were nervous to the point of a breakdown.

"It's interesting so far. I'm particularly enjoying the curiosity that instantly pops into the reader's head when they finish reading the title and move on to the first word; it's an effective use of verbal contrast, if you understand what I'm getting at."

Roxas beamed at the compliment. Zexion felt his eyes widen at the sight of the teen smiling with such genuine happiness—the boy was beautiful. Even thought Zexion was never one to note physical attraction, he knew what was visually pleasing…

And according to his optical nerves and sudden onslaught of hormonal impulses, Roxas was most definitely pleasing.

"Well, before you get back to reading it, would you be interested in joining me and Sora and our older brother and some of my friends next Friday night for karaoke?"

Zexion straightened and fell back against the couch cushions. "Why ask me?"

"Uhh…" Roxas began fiddling with the ends of his scarf. "Do I need to have a reason to want to hang out with you?"

Zexion deadpanned, "Yes."

Roxas stiffened for a second, not knowing how to react. Of course, most people didn't know when Zexion made a joke. Apparently it was unexpected of him?

"Roxas?"

"O-Oh, right… uhh… well, ya see, every year my big brother and Sora and our sisters—well, not_actual_ sister, but like… best childhood friends—go out to that karaoke place near Molco and rent out one of the small rooms for the night, but this year we wanna get one of those really nice rooms for parties of ten and over and stuff and…"

"Who else will be there?"

Roxas ran his right hand through his hair, tugging at the ends of the fluffy blond spikes. "Well, okay so me, Sora, Demyx, Kairi, Naminé, Marluxia, Riku, Axel, and hopefully you."

At the mention of the redhead's name, Zexion quirked an eyebrow. Was this a sign of changing times and feelings?

'_One never knows unless he asks.'_

"So Riku and Axel have already agreed to this?"

Roxas coughed nervously. "Riku has…"

"Then I will go if Axel goes," Zexion concluded. "As long as I am not required to sing," he amended. No reason to be cooed over in a mass of people that would most likely include estrogen… Estrogen and Zexion never did quite mix well.

"Thank you!"

Suddenly, a pair of thin arms wrapped themselves around Zexion's body and squeezed him close. Blond tufts of anti-gravity hair tickled his nostrils and filled his nose with the heady scent of fruity and floral shampoo. Awkwardly, he let his own arms slide around Roxas's frame. This human contact thing wasn't exactly normal for him, but… maybe for Roxas's sake, he could get used to receiving hugs.

"A-anyway, I'll let you get back to reading then." Roxas turned away and resumed doing the homework he'd brought in his messenger bag. Feeling slightly giddy in his stomach, Zexion pulled himself away and continued reading.

Only after Roxas left to chase after Axel did Zexion realize Roxas had only listed off nine people.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I don't see why you couldn't just talk to him," Joshua sighed. He had just finished taking Roxas's order to him and was now lounging around the back of the café with his redheaded coworker. "He honestly isn't all that young; he's my age."

"Exactly," Axel scoffed. "Can you imagine me dating you? It's kind of like that, if you think about it."

"Oh, I _have_ thought about it," Joshua sighed dreamily. "Mm… Don't you want me Axey-poo?" he hummed in a sultry tone. "Oh, Axel! Take me harder! Faster, baby, faster!" The silveret began rolling his hips suggestively as he pressed himself against the redhead. Axel's face flushed deeper when the teen let out a low moan and exhaled hot, moist breath all over his neck.

Before his embarassment could be sensed, he pushed the boy away from him and pointed to a spot across the café.

"Your boyfriend's watching."

Sure enough, Neku was staring over at the pair, his eyes flashing between looks of murderous intent and intense arousal. Joshua glanced over and locked eyes with his boyfriend. He swept his tongue over his teeth slowly until the orange-haired male was squirming in place.

"I'm going to go ravish my boyfriend now," he chuckled. "Good luck with Blondie."

Axel sighed as he watched the younger male strut over to Neku, grab him by the collar, and kiss the boy until he moaned very, _very_ audibly. The regular café-goers mostly ignored the pair while a people he'd secretly dubbed 'the fangirls' swooned. Daring a glance over, Axel's green eyes met the sight of a flush-faced Roxas trying not to stare at the couple. Axel watched with amusement as the blond turned to Zexion and attempted to distract himself with mundane conversation. As Zexion replied to his question, the blond's lips slowly turned into a gentle smile. Axel felt the carbon dioxide empty out of his lungs at the sight of Roxas's entire face lighting up. The blond's eyes shone so brilliantly Axel could have gone the entire day in a happy trance at the sight.

"I shouldn't be like this…" Axel whispered to himself. "He's not even legal."

_'Oh, but he's of legal **consenting** age. Don't deny that you enjoy that thought.''_

Flustered by the sudden thought, Axel turned around only to come almost mouth-to-mouth with Sanae.

"Come with me and take your break, kid. You need it."

The redhead followed sans argument. Once they were outside, each man reached for their own cigarette packs, smiling to himself when he realized the other one was doing the same. Axel lit his with his pocket lighter while Sanae reached into his breast pocket and pulled out matches.

"You should talk to him."

Axel took a drag on his cigarette and sighed the smoke out. "That's what Josh said."

"Smart kid." Hanekoma smiled fondly. "Why don't you listen to him?"

"I was going to," Axel lied. His boss gave him a disbelieving look and Axel lowered his eyes.

The pair stood quietly, each minding their own business. Smoke from their cigarettes and their lungs clouded Axel's vision. He watched the gray swirls wisp up, twirl in smoky ribbons, and dissipate into the air. As he took another drag from the end of the stick, as the spicy, dry, bitter smoke filled his respiratory system, disgust filled his mind. Really, he should be quitting.

Suddenly, someone tapped on the glass of the wall-height window, causing Axel to jump. When he looked over to the source of the noise, he saw Roxas grinning and stifling a chuckle.

"Can I join?" he mouthed from the other side. Axel nodded in response, and Roxas maneuvered around a fake potted plant and slipped quietly into the space beside him. Winking, Hanekoma slipped through the open side door as Roxas stepped outside.

"So… hi."

"Hey." Axel smiled back, taking another drag on his cigarette. The pair stood in silence for a short while until Roxas began nibbling his lower lip out of sheer boredom.

_'Why, hello there, Ms. Awkward Moment. Why don't you have a collective seat on our faces, you slut?'_

He chuckled silently. Man, his humor was going down the drain.

"That's bad for you."

"I know." He puffed away at his cigarette twice more. The moment the musky smoke left his lips, Roxas began coughing.

"Woah, you okay?" He flicked the ashes off the tip of his cig and turned toward the teen.

"Yeah…" he coughed again."I think I'm allergic to smoke or something, though."

Axel felt his eyes widen.

_'Fuck.'_

He quickly snuffed it out against the brick wall. "God, you should've said something!" He tossed the butt to the ground and stomped it flat for good measure. From the corner of his eye, Roxas flushed a bright red and averted his gaze.

"I don't like telling people to stop doing stuff when it's not my business. I feel like I'm nagging."

"If you don't tell people, you're putting your health at risk." Axel frowned when the blond stayed silent. _'Alright. So maybe Roxas doesn't want to talk to me.'_

Just as Axel was settling into his newfound mood of oncoming disappointment, Roxas began speaking.

"You… you don't think I'm imposing?"

Axel laughed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Of course you are, but it doesn't matter if it's not good for your health." Axel pretended to ignore the way Roxas's eyes narrowed at him. They almost screamed 'hypocrite'. "I need to kick the habit anyway, so it's more like, uhh… another reason to put on my 'why I've got to quit' list."

Wow, that was a lame save.

"You have a list?"

"Yeah," he lied. He was pretty sure that two reasons didn't count as a list.

Playful air settling in, Axel separated from the wall and turned to face Roxas. With a mischievous grin, he leaned forward and tapped the blond's nose and winked, smiling as the boy swatted his hand away and pouted.

"That's not what you came out here for, is it?"

Fluttering sensations passed through his chest when Roxas smiled at him. He blinked rapidly under the cover of his hair to distract himself from blushing.

_The playground was dark. He couldn't really keep track of everything happening. Riku was stumbling with him, Zexion was somewhere behind holding onto… something…_ _Two petit, spiky-haired silhouettes illuminated by the streetlights captured his hazy attention, and Axel began heading toward them. The brunet kid fled to the bushes, but the blond one stayed. By the time Axel was within visual range of the child, he couldn't take his eyes off the boy. Whatever god up there made his eyes so blue would be worshiped for the rest of his life._

_Before Axel knew what he was doing, he found that the blond was sitting in his lap. Soft, flawless skin, blue eyes, lips sculpted to perfection, all turned upward and facing him, potent with innocent curiosity._

_Gods, the kid had such a perfect face. Axel could almost see him as a sixteen-year-old: slender, thinly muscled, clear-eyed and clear-skinned. He would probably have an incredibly sexy voice too, but not one of those deep bass voices. No, this kid would probably end up with one of those voices that got low, sultry, and breathless when he was aroused or seductive. He'd probably still have perfect skin and maybe be the perfect height and weight for Axel to kiss and hold and handle._

_He could imagine the shine in those eyes that were staring up excitedly at him now magnified tenfold and shaded over with an opaque darkness of desire. He wanted to see those eyes look at him, feel the strong, lean body of a fluffy-haired blond sixteen-year-old writhe and shake beneath him, wanted to hear that silky voice the boy would inevitably have cry out from passion so intense he would black out after Axel was done with him._

_Suddenly a hand came up and pulled the boy out of his lap and the warmth of another tiny body settled against his own was replaced with the rush of cool night air. Zexion glared and lectured at him, but Axel paid the scholarly teen no mind. Instead, he took his friend's bookmark and uncapped one of his sharpies._

_Three seconds later, he'd handed the boy the note card, complete with a name and number._

_Because that smile, that blushing face, no matter what age he was, remained forever beautiful, and for a split, drunk, surreal second Axel didn't want to ever have the boy look at anyone else that way again._

"Axel? Hey, Earth to Axel!" Roxas was rocking back on his heels, his hand waving in front of Axel's face. "Anyone in there?"

"Oh, sorry," Axel chuckled awkwardly and lowered his eyes. "What was that again?"

Roxas scoffed and crossed his arms. "I knew you weren't listening. Whatever. It wasn't that important."

A jolt of competition shocked through Axel's mind and before he could stop, he found himself cranking up the charm to maximum power. He got up from where he was leaning against the wall and pivoted his body so that he was standing directly in front of Roxas, so close he could vaguely feel the boy's breath on his neck.

"What's that, now?" He flashed Roxas his award-winning grin (no joke—he had his page in the yearbook) and watched the blonde's cheek color pulse into a vibrant pink that wasn't from the winter air outside. _'You wanna make out?' _Axel ignored the urge to say those words and amended, "Am I not good enough for you?"

At which point, Roxas's scoffs were accompanied by a short staccato of laughter. "Of course not. I need a _real_ man, not a pansy ass like you!"

"Oh yeah?" Axel challenged, leaning in close to the blonde's face and resting a jacketed arm against the brick wall on the space above his head. "But I am a real man."

"Really?"

"Really, baby." He couldn't suppress the beginnings of a chuckle from escaping his lips and morphing into breath fog. "Want me to prove it?"

Roxas purposefully licked his lips suggestively. "I _dare_ you," he countered. The visual of that pink tongue sliding over Roxas's skin snapped Axel back into lucid reality.

Well, that was new.

"Hah. Like you could even handle me," he continued, trying to sound like he was still in his playful mood. The words came out strained.

An awkward air began settling back into the space between them, so Axel straightened up and leaned back pseudo-casually, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and rocking back on his heels. After an extended tense moment, Roxas (thankfully) shoved the awkward aside and kicked off the wall so he could head back inside.

"I just wanted to know if you're free next Friday night. My brother's back in town and we wanna go to that karaoke place near Molco. It's this thing we do every year around the Winter Solstice."

"Yeah," Axel lied as he followed the blond back inside. "I'll be free."

Now he was going to have to find someone to take his shift. Or just ditch work… he still had one Free Raise Hell Pass from Sanae, right? His two per year quota hadn't been filled, as far as he knew.

"Cool. Zexion and Riku are coming too, so… uhm… yeah."

Roxas tried not to give off the vibe of excitement, but the barista could sense the way Roxas's step was suddenly lighter and his shoulders curled toward the center of his body, as if he was hugging himself from joy.

The thought made the insides of his chest feel fuzzy. Warm, even… That was definitely new.

And kinda nice.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

When Roxas returned home, he walked in to the sound of a vivacious, expressive tenor and an amused, pastel soprano having an anything but harmonious time in the kitchen. The second sensation came as a slap to the face in the form of delicious, gourmet smells diffusing from the kitchen and into the rest of their apartment floor.

Gods, it was wonderful to have Demyx back.

"Hey, Roxas!" Naminé dropped her knife and mushrooms and bounded over to Roxas. "Did you ask, did you ask?"

The blond pulled away from her and fixed his eyes on Demyx, who had an onion chunks sprinkled in his hair. _'At least the cacophony ceased.'_

"Yeah."

"And?" Marluxia emerged from the hallway, wooden spoon in hand (God knows what he was doing with a sauce-covered spoon alone in the hallway…). He wore Demyx's apron that boldly displayed 'Fuck Kissing—Pay This Chef, Dammit!'. "What did Mr. Hot Stuff say?"

Roxas braced himself and murmured, "He said yes."

Three pairs of arms dog piled onto him from all angles, each enveloping over another in a pattern of indistinguishable layers. Vaguely, he felt marinara sauce transfer from Marluxia's wooden spoon onto his cheek and part of his ear.

When they pulled apart, Roxas touched a hand to his face and the group laughed. Yup. Marinara sauce transfer affirmative.

"So we gonna meet this guy next week?"

"Yeah, I guess. As long as you guys don't try to strip search him or something," Roxas called as he began heading toward his room. Because, really, if he didn't say not to, they probably would.

"Aww…" came Demyx's voice from somewhere near the stovetop, "and I was gonna be the one to make sure he was STD free!"

Naminé giggled and continued slicing the fungi. Meanwhile, Marluxia took to hanging around the kitchen, alternating between watching Demyx's backside as he cooked and Naminé's hips as she danced to the tune the oldest Esment was humming.

Choosing to ignore the absence of his twin and "big sister" Kairi, Roxas meandered down the hallway to his room, where inside one cursory glance toward the mirror revealed to him the marinara sauce spots that someone—most likely Demyx—had surreptitiously smeared across his forehead in the pattern of a smiley face. The house was always so much livelier when it came to the holiday season: Demyx would return home, their father would occasionally start showing up for dinner, the Panettieres had their traditional Winter Solstice celebration… Not to mention the outside world began to snow and the few kids that did live in Twilight Town would break away from their computer screens in favor of a few hours playing in the chilly white powder.

Roxas padded across the hardwood floor of the hallway to his and Sora's shared bathroom where he immediately wiped the saucy smiley face off with his bare hand and washed it down the sink. Without thinking, he stripped off his shirt and readied the shower.

With the door locked, he stood in front of the mirror, topless and cheeks flushed from the cold air outside and the rush of friends that tackled him when he'd gotten home. Keeping a steady gaze on himself, he inspected his body. It was too cold to go running anymore, so his abs began to lose their toning. Running a finger over his abdomen, Roxas watched, mesmerized as tiny bumps rose to the surface of his skin. A loose thought wriggled away from the clutches of the back of his mind and pushed to the forefront. His eyes slipped shut briefly as he let his hands trail down his torso and toward his hips. As the feel of skin on skin (even if it was his own) overcame him, Roxas imagined it was Axel running his hands over his toned body, that it was Axel's hand dipping under his waistband to brush teasingly at the beginnings of an erection, it was Axel's fingers gently twisting his left nipple…

Vaguely aware of the air in the bathroom filling with condensation, Roxas opened his eyes to meet the sight of himself flush-faced and glowing from the beginnings of his fantasy. As the edges of the mirror began fogging over, traveling toward the center, Roxas imagined Axel's heat was consuming his body.

He allowed himself to strip off his boxers and step into the shower, flushed and trying to calm his libido. Once he had his footing, he leaned against the side of the shower wall so the spray wouldn't fight the contours of his face full-on, but rather push onto limited areas of his skin and allow him to breathe without fear of choking.

He stood under the spray for a few minutes, unmoving.

Why did he feel like this after every time he talked to Axel? The urge to reach out and pull the redhead down for a kiss grew with intensity whenever he found himself and the older man alone—or rather without their friends—and Roxas could hardly stand the nagging in his mind that translated into tension in his body. When Axel rested his arm against the brick wall above his head and leaned down, Roxas was so anticipating a kiss that he'd stopped breathing.

He wanted to punch himself.

Life wasn't a pile of chocolate-covered strawberries; Roxas couldn't just pluck all the tasty things off the top of the plate and expect to find more morsels of the same nature underneath. In fact, life was probably a pile of bitter medicinal herbs. Almost no one liked to eat them, even if they were beneficial to your state of well-being.

That was the thing about humanity, though. Everyone likes and does what is bad—maybe even the worst—for themselves. Himself. Herself? Whatever.

Roxas didn't like to think it, but for him it was probably his pessimism. Maybe it would do him some good to go through a day giving out puppy-shaped long balloons to kids while shouting 'You are special, everyone cares about what you think, the world isn't made of shit, and the sky is filled with_candy_!'

Haha. Oh, Roxas, you _clown_.

He squeezed a gratuitous amount of grapefruit-scented shower gel onto a luffa and scratched up his body with the rough dead plant. Yes. Sometimes he used Sora's girly bath products, because he secretly hoped that maybe they'd help him become a beautiful butterfly, so then Axel would love him! Ha-ha-ha. Halfway through cleaning his skin, the notion that he was essentially cleaning himself with a corpse began tickling at his conscience, and he immediately dropped the skin-polishing dead thing.

Roxas sank onto the demi-oval seat that jutted out from the side of the box-shaped shower and let the spray liberally cleanse him of the citrusy foam that still clung to the crevices of this body.

The shower was so hot by now that the steam rose into a thick fog. He doubted that he'd be able to find anything in the moisture that was more than three feet from him; he'd probably have to find someone heat-retardant (because, really, flame-retardant wouldn't have been practical in this kind of environment) to fetch things for him. Axel would probably be heat-retardant… or a heater in the package of a very attractive man.

Bah.

…Humbug.

At least Axel had agreed. Just thinking about spending time with the redhead out of the normal WildKat setting sent happy shivers up his sides. Maybe if things went well, Roxas would get some quality alone time with the lanky twenty-three-year-old. And maybe then they would—

"God, I'm lame…" Roxas sighed as he banished the budding image from his mind. Reaching for a thankfully near shampoo bottle, he chastised himself, "I shouldn't be allowed to feel like this about him. I can't put him in _that_ kind of situation…"

As he scrubbed at his scalp with his brother's shampoo, a feeling of emptiness settled in his body. All week, he'd scarcely heard a word from his brunet counterpart, and it was really starting to grate on his mind. Normally, the fact that it was finals week next week was adequate enough to explain the lack of interaction, but for the past eight days, Sora hadn't spent any time with Roxas.

At all.

Sinking sensations stormed through his chest, and Pessimistic Roxas heaved a triumphant fist.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Outside, Demyx Esment placed the finishing touches on the top of his classic spaghetti with vegetarian "meatballs" (screw if everyone else wanted real meat. He'd been eating healthier for months now and everyone else was going to have to deal with it). It was nearing six at night, and Kairi had shown up in the Esment residence—sans Sora—while Roxas was in the shower.

"Where's Rox?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her sister's shoulders.

Naminé smiled and patted her arm. "I could ask the same for you. Where's your half of the brotherhood?"

Without much regard to where her limbs were flailing, Kairi flopped over the back of the couch and landed upside down beside Marluxia, who was seated adjacent to Naminé on the couch.

"He's busy right now. Wanted to write his English semester final paper in silence or something, so I left him in our house."

Demyx frowned. "Mm… Well, text him to come over and eat soon, 'kay?"

"Will do big bro!" Kairi saluted him from her upside down position and rotated until she was horizontally spread across the couch cushions. Marluxia disdainfully slid her slowly-climbing-up-the-thighs basketball shorts into a proper position.

Naminé arched her brow. "Aren't those Roxas's pants?"

"Got 'em from So." She stuck her tongue out at her sister, her eyes still intent on the message she was sending Sora. "Don't be jealous I'm wearing your future gay husband's clothesies."

The blonde made a sound of protest mixed with _what the hell did you just say?_, and crossed her arms. Demyx noted gleefully out of the corner of his eye that once she and Marluxia made eye contact, Naminé's pretty porcelain face turned a violent baboon's ass shade of red that definitely_wasn't_ a product of the Roxas comment—a fact that Kairi was fully aware of.

The redhead grinned and winked at her sister.

At which point Marluxia shoved her in the side and Kairi went flopping to the ground.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Sora, your crotch is buzzing."

The brunet huffed and rolled off the silveret's chest to check his phone. "That wasn't my crotch, by the way. It was in my pocket."

"Buzzed against _my_ crotch," Riku countered, turning his body so that he could watch Sora. "And I have to admit, it was kind of arousing."

"Well you're kind of arousing!" he countered. "W-wait, I mean—"

The silveret smirked and Sora Esment began to fix his retort, only to be silenced by Riku's lips pressing against his. Sure, there was a light blanket of snow on the ground, but it was about sixty degrees on Sunset Hill, and raging libidos never stopped for anything.

A happy rush swept through Sora's body as Riku settled his weight atop the brunet. Sora dropped his phone in the snow in favor of running his ungloved fingers through Riku's hair, pulling slightly whenever Riku did that incredible tongue thing that had Sora moaning lightly and panting heavily within seconds.

"So…" Riku murmured against Sora's lips, "how much longer is Kairi going to lie for us?"

"I… I think…" As Sora searched his mind for words, he felt the edges of Riku's mouth fall into a frown against his lips.

"How long are you keeping us a secret?"

"You haven't told Axel or Zexion either!"

Riku sighed and buried his face against Sora's neck, the cold tip of his nose making Sora shudder. "Actually… Zexion kind of already figured it out."

"What?" He nearly jolted up, but was barred by the weight resting on his body.

Propping himself up on both arms, Riku carefully leaned down and kissed the tip of the boy's nose. "Don't worry; Zexy's not the type to go around spreading what isn't his to spread."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"I have to go back now." Sora pushed him away and sat up. "See you tomorrow?"

Riku sighed. "You have to study for your exams, so I'll see you next Friday."

That would mean a whole week without his boyfriend, and Sora doubted he could last that long.

"I'll text you then?" he suggested. Yeah. Fat chance.

"Only if you study hard."

"…Fine."

Riku stood up before he did and offered a hand down to the shorter teen. Sora heaved himself up with the help and fell forward into the silveret's arms, his face going red like the pollution-dyed sunset as Riku's arms fell into a default case around him. Hopefully he'd be able to focus on his studying tomorrow.

For now, he'd just let Riku walk him back home.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora returned and had entered his room moments after Roxas exited the shower, towel sliding his hips as he bent over to retrieve a fallen shirt from the ground. Sora coughed once and averted his gaze as his twin's towel slipped off and hit the hard wood floor. Roxas turned, resulting in the two standing and staring at each other awkwardly for a moment before quickly turning to their respective sides of the room.

"So, uhh… done with your paper, are you?" Roxas pulled the floor-loving shirt over his head and smoothed the tight fabric over his body. As thin as the royal blue material was, it blocked the cold out well and made his abs look godly.

"Yeah," Sora replied, his right hand going behind his head and twisting a specific tuft of hair near the nape of his neck. "I've just gotta write the last body paragraph and finish the conclusion."

Something was definitely off. The hair-twisting habit spawned from the day before their mother had left and only came back when Sora was nervous about something, something that intrinsically took root in him lying.

"Want me to look over it when you're done?"

"Yeah! Do you even have to ask?" Sora laughed and climbed up the ladder to the wooden floor jutting out of the wall. With an exaggerated sigh, he flopped onto his bed and buried his face in his cloud pillow.

Roxas rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the skepticism in his mind couldn't translate over to his twin's.

"Guys!" Naminé called from the living room. "We're done eating and the food's lukewarm!"

Roxas ignored her and pulled on his sweatpants. He slid across the floor on his socked feet and reached out to stop himself against one of the wooden columns that held up the half-story Sora lay on, like he was ten again and they were having sliding races across their room because mom and dad weren't home and Demyx was hanging with his friends in the living room. His palms closed around the smooth Alder, and his forehead fell against the cool solid.

"Sora."

"Yeah?"

Roxas sighed and disconnected from the column. "I've barely seen you at all this week cuz you've been over at Kairi's the entire time. How have you been?"

"Good I guess…"

_'Liar.'_ He took a few steps and flopped onto the couch. _'You've been ecstatic all week for no reason. At least, no reason you'll tell me.'_

"That's good."

The blond curled up into a ball and hugged the top half of the couch blanket over his body. Something was changing, and it scared him. Sure, he had Joshua and Neku to talk to, but… they just weren't the same as Sora; no one could replace his twin.

_'You're thinking yourself into a hole, Roxas. You promised yourself you wouldn't do this. Don't be negative, don't be negative, don't be negative don't be negative don'tbenegativedon'tbe…'_

A shivery fissure split up the center of his chest, and Roxas almost gasped from the sudden sensation. The thought of existing without Sora invaded his mind and the overwhelming sadness leaked from his eyes and spread like soft ink blotches against the cream-colored blanket.

How would he function without his other half?

He started shivering. Not because the air made him cold, but because he was cold. The feeling of ice emanated from the crack in his chest and seeped into the other crevices of his body. It was like he was dreaming again, but instead of skin-numbing penciled leaves filtering along the cracks of his skin, giant drops of every shade between white, blue, and purple pressed against him and soaked his body. A bare hiccup hopped from his throat, and startled Sora into looking down toward the couch. Within moments, he was curled up with Roxas on the couch, his arms around the blonde's frame, his fingers running through still-damp hair.

"Don't think the scary thoughts," Sora whispered. He didn't have to ask why Roxas was breaking down—after all, Roxas only ever broke down for one thing. In fact, that one thing topped Sora's list of things that scared him to death.

Neither of them could stand the thought of someone they love leaving their lives forever.

Guilt nagged at the back of his conscience as he pressed his brother's face against the crook of his neck. He really hadn't spent any time with Roxas at all this week, aside from the moments when they woke up and just before they went to sleep. Every free moment this week had been spent with Riku while Kairi covered for them by lying through her teeth to her sister and his twin.

"I'm here, Rox. I'm right here…" He felt the tip of Roxas's cold nose move in a slanted line along his neck, nodding. "If it means anything, I'll study with you tomorrow."

"Y-yeah?"

Sora wiped a tear from his own cheek. "All da—"

"Yo, midgets! Get your asses out here and nom before I shove the noodles up your holes myself!"

Roxas jumped at Demyx's sudden intrusion and nearly dislocated Sora's jaw.

"Got it, assface!" Sora yelled back, chuckling at Roxas, who was rolling his eyes. "One more minute." He turned to the teen curled up against his arm. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yes…" Roxas smiled, his eyes bright. "God, I'm such a wimp…"

"Naw," Sora smiled, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. "I'm a sissy too." He stopped and sniffed noisily. "Damn, we need to stop crying. My manly pride is turning over in its grave."

"I was serious about that noodles up the asses thing, boys! Get out here _now_!"

The twins shared a knowing look and dried their eyes once more before exiting their room. Perhaps company would be a pleasant distraction.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Axel walked along the familiar streets of Twilight Town, his mind drowning with memories as the personality of the town filled his senses. The town trolley rolled by, and the redhead nearly succumbed to the urge to stick his hand out to graze the metal walls and let the fading paint transfer into his fingertips like pixie dust. He'd definitely changed now—any person would have if they'd been gone as long as he'd been. The shop that used to be run by the old woman who constantly lost her cat had been replaced by a haughty-looking brunette who inspected her nails as she greeted customers.

Whatever happened to treating customers well so they'd return? As far as Axel knew, food quality was only half the reason why the WildKat accumulated regulars. On a cockier day, he might've joked that it was because of his dashing good looks, but…

All this absence of life just depressed it right out of him.

Before, back when he was still in elementary school, he'd have to duck and run between people's legs to get to the convenience store down the street that sold those cheap chocolate-coated strawberry ice cream bars in the summer and seven-munny cups of hot chocolate in the winter. Now, as he glanced around the absent expanse of snow, the utter lack of child-sized footprints drained whatever substance it was that filled him with a sense of existence from his chest. The farther his eyes wandered ahead of his path, the worse the blanched feeling became. By the time he reached the convenience store, he couldn't help but to duck in to escape the lackluster winter streets.

As the door to the convenience store swung open, familiar chimes rang above Axel's head. He took a long-dormant-but-still-habitual head turn to the left where the man who ran the shop—now in his early-fifties—greeted him with a smile and a wave.

"Akuseru Flynn," he recalled fondly. "Could never forget your crazy hair. How have you been?"

"Alright." _'Wow, Axel. How eloquent of you to display the astounding byproducts of your college education.'_

"That's good to hear."

Axel nodded once and began heading toward the back of the shop to where the drinks used to be sold. Everything had moved since the last time he'd been here so many years ago. Of course, the man was always moving things around, claiming that the same layout every day made him want to fall asleep on the job. He remembered walking in once and seeing the shelves arranged in a pattern that swirled to a spot in the middle where the liquor was arranged in a neat heap. 'To keep the drunks confused and busy,' he'd joked. It was kind of upsetting, really, that he couldn't have bothered to remember the man's name.

"Hot chocolate is up here, by the way." He halted and turned around, giving the store owner a questioning look. "Had to move it because of all the people that try to steal a second cup."

Axel huffed amusedly once and came to the front counter. "Yeah, we were all little brats back then, weren't we?" The metal framed glass rose to just below his navel now as opposed to where it used to sit beside his neck—he'd been a short-ish kid back in the day. At least now he wouldn't have to face the questionably discolored glass when he paid for his hot chocolate. "And how's the life for you now?" He filled four large Styrofoam cups from the coffee dispenser that sat on the counter. "Twenty-eight munny, right?"

"Right. And it's been same as always. You should've been here last week when I had the shelves arranged like a giant snowflake."

Axel handed the munny over and eyed the case of cigarettes behind the man's—Joel's—head. His hand instinctively went to his pocket where his own rectangular box of death sticks sat placidly.

"Is that right?"

"Yup. Really, kid, you shoulda been here."

After Axel paid for the four cups of hot chocolate, he set them into a cardboard cup holder Joel handed to him from somewhere behind the counter.

"Thanks," he called back, his face settling into a smile.

"Yeah. Come back and visit sometime; make an old man feel young again."

He laughed all the way out the door. "C'mon, you're not that old."

As the winter chill kissed his face with chapped, icy lips, a moment of contemplation settled into the pit of his belly. Most things had definitely changed since the last time he'd been here, but it was good to know some stayed the same. It brought a sense of comfort to him.

Even if the last time he was here was the first time he'd met Roxas.

He wiped the beginnings of the memory from his mental theater and pulled out his phone. It was just barely past one in the afternoon; so far he was still on time.

'_C'mon, Axel. Chemistry calls.'_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Roxas was just about to pull his teeth out with a set of pliers when there was a knock at the front door. He sat up a little too excitedly from the dining room table, causing his knee to bang against one of the legs and for both Zexion and Sora to drop their pencils.

"I got it!" he called, hopping up and down on his bare foot across the wood floor, clutching his knee and wobbling precariously.

"He's all yours," Sora chuckled.

"…Captain Obvious."

"Nice one, Zexion."

Roxas ignored the sound of their high five and opened the door to a very frozen-looking Axel Flynn standing outside.

"Hey, young man," Axel started before Roxas could usher the redhead into their home, "Wanna buy a chocobo?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes and shut the door on the man's face. With a smug smirk tugging at the edges of his lips, Roxas slid into a sitting position against the door and crossed his legs. He could feel the vibrations from Axel's constant, monotonous knocks.

"Please, Roxy, sweetie, I was just kidding. I brought you something nice to drink. Please? Something nice, hot, thick, and creamy to coat your mouth and fill your throat…"

Mental images began filling his head, and Roxas covered his ears. _'Oh my god…'_

"… Thick and warm and waiting to be licked, Roxy-baby. Something just for you, something steamy and silky and—"

He yanked open the door and stalked off toward the dining room table. "J-just shut up and get your ass in here before the neighbors start gossiping!"

"But don't you want your hot chocolate?" he teased as he set the four cups down on the dining room table. "I bought one just for you."

"I don't want your dirty hot choco—"

A loud slurping sound and a subsequent satisfied sigh came from his twin's general direction. "Rox," he chuckled, "it's the stuff from Joel's place."

Roxas's ears perked at the sound of Sora's voice and his mouth began watering. Joel and his hot chocolate… oh, how long had it been since he'd had any of that godly warmth? Axel was _so_ right to compare it to sex…

"Gimme some of that."

Before Roxas could get up from his seat on the couch, Axel already came over with two cups of hot chocolate in his hands and Roxas's school bag slung over one shoulder. After placing one cup in Roxas's hand and the other on the coffee table, he settled down onto the chic black couch beside Roxas and pulled the bright green school bag onto his lap.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Axel replied. "Now, where is your AP Chem review stuff?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You left it on the table. I'll go get it."

He placed his drink on the table and got up from the couch. However, as he returned from grabbing his review materials from the other table, he was suddenly extremely aware of how Naminé had once commented—surprisingly objectively—how the particular pair of sweat pants he was currently wearing made his ass look devilishly attractive.

Actually, the word she'd used had been something more akin to 'fuckable'.

And now he was standing up with his ass in front of Axel's face, bending over slightly to place his study materials on the coffee table.

And _now_ he had frozen in that exact position because of the interruption of realizing his exact position.

_'Damn, this is awkward. Please don't pinch my butt like Nam does… please don't…_'

Maneuvering away from Axel cautiously, Roxas slid back into his seat on the couch and took to sipping his hot chocolate quietly while Axel thumbed through the materials his teacher handed out two days ago.

"So this is what you're learning in class?"

Rhetorical question.

"Roxas?"

Okay, maybe not too rhetorical after all.

"Yeah," Roxas clarified. "This is what we're learning. We did a bit of jumping around in the book, but generally we're up to chapter twelve right now, just finishing Rate Laws and starting Reaction Mechanisms."

Axel sat back and nursed the hot chocolate in his hands slowly. "Please don't tell me you called me here because you're having trouble with something that easy…"

"I didn't call you here because I'm having trouble with something that easy," Roxas recalled verbatim. "It's actually the stuff we learned near the beginning and Acid-Base reaction writing I need help with."

"What, so you've got your pH's and your pOH's mixed up now?" Axel teased.

Oh, not _that_ tone of voice. Roxas _abhorred_ that condescending tone of voice people got when they were intrinsically better at something than you, especially if they were _supposed to be the one tutoring you._

"Yes," he drawled back sarcastically. "I can't tell the difference between an acid and a base. That's why I can't tell whether or not I should add more hydroxide or hydronium or H2O to the reactants or products side of the equation. Oh, Mr. Flynn you're _so_ amazing; you've solved _all_ my _problems_!"

"… Wow, kid. You're kind of an asshole."

"Whatever, Mr. Chemistry-Major," Roxas huffed and slouched in his seat. "I'm just a high school student taking college-level classes so I get to be an asshole right now. Anyway, I don't have any problems with balancing the equations' electron count and hydrogen and oxygen levels when it's a neutral reaction, but once I hit acids and bases, it all just goes to shit."

Axel nodded and turned Roxas's review guide over. He quickly popped the black mini-permanent marker off his belt loop and scribbled a note onto the paper. (Thank God the pen didn't bleed.) "And what other things do you need help reviewing on?"

"Well, for starters," he reached for the textbook and heaved it off Axel's lap and onto his own and relayed all the information to the redhead.

_'__Oh great, it's the stuff I'm good at...' _Axel scribbled the last few of his notes down on the back of Roxas's review sheet, smiled, and rubbed his now de-gloved hands together. "Sounds great to me; let's get started."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

After two collective hours of brain-numbing, head-whacking, tear-jerking chemistry study—with two minute breaks every twenty minutes—Roxas collapsed across the floor and landed with his head on Axel's lap; he was exhausted to the point where his actions ceased to register in his head.

"I think my brain's falling apart from the inside out…" he moaned, clutching at his temples, "I can't feel myself think anymore."

"That's wonderful," Axel smirked, running his finger through Roxas's hair as the blond pulled out his cell phone and began texting his older brother. "Providing that you knew how to feel the act of thinking passing through your brain in the first place, that is. …Hey, so where is your brother?" Axel asked, shifting slightly under the weight of Roxas's head. "I thought I'd see him today."

"Naw," Roxas sighed, letting his eyes slide shut. "He left to give me and So some study time. I think he's visiting with friends right now or something."

"Mm…"

They shared a relaxing moment and ignored the fact that Zexion and Sora were still agonizing over their own Advanced History and Psychology duo review session. For now, Roxas was completely set for the finals on Wednesday and Thursday.

"So, Axel," he turned over in the older man's lap and pushed himself into a sitting position, stretching his arms toward the ceiling. "Why do you like chemistry so much?"

A glowing smile overcame Axel's features and the man laughed, propping one arm onto the couch cushion behind his head so that he could face Roxas. He laughed twice more and shook his head in an amused pendulum.

"Three words, Roxas: Playing. With. Fire."

"Pff," Roxas scoffed. "I could've guessed as much."

"Oh, really?" he challenged, his diamond facial tattoos raising and stretching slightly over the apples of his cheeks. "Because it's not the setting things on fire so much as the color of the fire—did you guess that?"

"No…" Roxas disconnected his gaze from Axel's springtime-grass eyes and looked down at his hands. "So what are you going to do with your Chem Degree and love of fire anyway?"

"I'm gonna be a pyrotechnician."

"… What?"

Axel rested his head against the couch, relaxing as he let his body weight settle down. He held out a hand toward Roxas and lifted his three middle fingers (and his thumb, but Roxas figured that was just habitual).

"There are three things I love about chemistry," he started, punctuating each concept with a touch of his right index finger to each of his fingertips. "They are: capillary action, diatomic molecules, and electromagnetic radiation." He paused and pursed his lips. "Actually, two of those cross over into the realm of physics, so… never mind. Capillary action, diatomic molecules, and electromagnetic radiation—most of all electromagnetic radiation."

"Okay, so that's... liquids defying gravity, molecules that come in pairs and... Why colors are? And wavelengths and all that?"

"Exactly. I mean, electromagnetic radiation is the reason why strontium makes the red in fireworks and why barium salts make green and why copper carbonate mixed with copper sulfate and copper oxide make that really gorgeous blue color they use every year in RGU's winter solstice festivals."

Axel's voice began speeding up, like someone had poured twenty packets of real sugar into his system or fed him eighteen scones and cookies and the sugar's effect had just begun to settle in. Suddenly, Roxas found himself alternating between staring at Axel's quickly gesturing hands and his face. A pastel glow lit his face from beneath his skin, and it was just so enchanting, so engaging and softly salient that Roxas was becoming just as excited as Axel. Suddenly, it seemed as though fireworks and explosions would fascinate him to no end. Had this conversation taken place before the review session, Roxas doubted he'd be able to keep up.

Now, everything was almost perfectly clear.

"So what would you do when you're not making fireworks?" Roxas wondered aloud. "I can't imagine just doing fireworks for forever, and I don't really know many places that would probably hire out a pyrotechnician year round."

"Ahh… see, that's where theatrical explosions come in.

"I mean, fireworks and theatrical explosions are pretty similar. You pack the explosive inside the cylindrical mechanism and pack the top with hard sand to create a controlled, directional blast—in the explosion's case that is; a red star composition and a blue star one and that 'flash and sound' mixture would be in a firework. Anyway, that's how they always do the car explosion scenes on TV, because a real blast would be so much messier than just blown out windows and tops."

By the time the redheaded male had passed his mid-way point in explaining dramatic explosions, Roxas's face was so bewildered that Axel had to stop and let the blond mentally recuperate.

"I-I think I've got enough explosives knowledge to out-nerd some of the hardcore pyromaniacs at my school now…"

Standing up, Axel smirked and helped the blond to his feet. "I expected as much. That's what Zex and 'Kuu said the first time they listened to my full speech. Most people can barely make it past the fireworks-theatrical explosions comparison to the middle of it."

Roxas wobbled on his oddly numb itchy legs as the blood rushed back into them. "You mean that wasn't the full thing?"

"Hell no."

"Yes, Roxas, you should listen to the full speech," Zexion added from across the room. "I can quote the entire first few paragraphs of the transcript verbatim to the most common version he gives."

"Seriously, Rox," Sora piped up, "he was doing it just now."

"Yo, wait. That's _so_ not cool…"

"You know what really 'isn't cool'?" Zexion retorted composedly, "The fact that if we don't leave now, Riku will starve us for the next three nights because we're going to be late for dinner."

"Shit," Axel hissed, snatching his jacket off the sofa back. "We better get going then."

"Let's," Zexion agreed.

Roxas waved and winced slightly when Sora pulled Zexion into a one-way, extremely awkward hug-with-profuse-thanks on the lilac-haired male's behalf. Resisting the urge to do the same for Axel, Roxas simply smiled and waved as Axel found his own way to the door.

"Ready, Zexion?"

"More so than you are to go two nights without eating; you're a garbage disposal."

As the older pair made their way down the hall carelessly throwing insults back and forth at each other, Roxas slipped into the kitchen to grab a glass and fill it half-full with water. It was funny, really, that a year ago, he would've said it was half empty. Now, Roxas saw the glass as one part oxygen, two parts hydrogen, and three parts combination of whatever molecules happened to be floating around in the air at the moment… which would actually probably raise the oxygen to something higher than simply one part.

Smiling to himself, Roxas pressed his palm to his forehead. And he was going to be able to spend next day Friday, almost all day, with that delightful, unrealistically attractive man.

In fact, it kind of canceled out the urge to embark on his self-prescribed eventual therapy of handing animal balloons to children while shouting obvious optimistic lies about the world.

"Hey, Roooooxas?"

"Yeah?"

Sora giggled and pressed his hands to his face, squishing his cheeks toward his mouth 'til he puckered like a fish. "You want him to kiss you senseless, don't you, _Roxy-baby_?"

"… Shaddup."

So the brunet did… but only because Roxas was closer to the kitchen knives than he was.

He was, after all, quite partial to the thought of remaining a male with two testes for the rest of his life rather than a male with simply one.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Tell me, Axel," Zexion stopped at the end of the short hallway in front of the elevator buttons. "Did you visit your father?"

"…No."

"Why not?"

Axel hesitated.

"He's only a few floors away; why not visit?"

There it was: Zexion's amused, bitch-voice he used whenever he wanted to force his way on other people. All these years and Axel was barely immune to the pressure of being under Zexion's scrutiny.

Not that it was his fault; Zexion rarely used his persuasive gifts to render people unable to fight his will. Not many people ever got the unfortunate chance to face off against this side of Zexion enough to build a resistance. In fact, not even Riku had.

"I… I…"

"Yes?"

"I just… _can't_," he finished lamely. "I'm not ready to see him yet. Not after all these years…"

Zexion smirked and stepped aside so Axel could press the buttons for the elevator. All in all, the motion felt like a consolation prize kids with no hand-eye coordination one at school fairs. Zexion was letting him press the elevator buttons to shut up his excuses and complaints. If anything, it was patronizing at best.

"I see."

'_No, Zexion. You don't._'

* * *

Demyx finally shows up! I know he didn't appear much, but tell me what you guys think about him. :)

Meanwhile, go amuse yourselves along with me:

**/s/4840063/1/Eternally_Yours**-_Chronos Mephistopheles_-Pretty much a genderbender(-esque) RiSo fic. Although she hasn't gotten to the femme-to-phallic phase of the story yet, I've been promised it will be happening soon. I've never read a genben fic before this one and haven't since, but because I love the concept so much, I'm willing to stick with it. [By the way, her **The Secret Diary of Beelzebub** simply cracks me up.]

**/u/1619961/**-_Annie Christ_-Pretty much anything by this woman is a worthy read. I am completely in love with her style and the way her characters act, and... Gods. She just takes my breath away. My favorite fic by her is **Amor Tutti Fa Uguali** (AkuRoku). Go read it; you won't regret

Happy Holidays again. May all your winters be... winter-y for whichever region of the world you inhabit.

_Bisous, Minikimii_

P.S. Narwhals pwn: www. weebls-stuff. com/toons/Narwhals/


	9. Compatibility

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to SqEnix.

This is part one of the original chapter nine. I'm not going to make the obnoxious "Part A/Part B" separation, because that throws the chapter listings in the drop down bar. Therefore, part two has been transformed to chapter ten. Subsequently, I produce a shorter chapter. (But fear not, as the next one is a BEAST.)

My author's notes were cluttered, so I've cut the crap. Enjoy!

* * *

**Call Me**  
Compatibility

Swirling marble patterns glittered under his fingertips, making it impossible not to stare as he shifted his body weight from left to right foot. Every time they were here, the tiny gold flecks on the counter never ceased to amuse him with the way they would inevitably stay in the same position until the marble fell apart, how the tiny flecks were spaced unevenly together and apart from one another, all the sparkling spots caught up within the whirls of the relatively soft rock. Demyx once told him that marble scratches easily; perhaps that was why all the great sculpted works of art were done in the medium.

To Roxas, it almost felt like a metaphor for life. Everyone's a tiny fucking speck in a huge, frozen, monotonous whirlpool and everything was always relative to each other and the same color and stuck in their perpetual loneliness and Nothing. Ever. Changed.

It felt... poetic. Or some shit like that, but not _really_.

Nothing ever fucking really—

"May I see picture identification, please?"

Aeron Esment reached into his bag and pulled out identification cards for himself and his twin boys; Demyx—now well over the age of eighteen—supplied his own. The man behind the counter ran the identification through his system (a process Roxas never really paid attention to) and within moments, the group was heading down familiar hallways toward the waiting room.

This... place, Twilight Town Recovery Center, had once been a glorious mansion built for some blank-faced rich couple with too much money to spend and too little compassion to spare. According to local history month from freshman history, this mansion was actually supposed to go, by marriage, to the Panettiere family, but had fallen to ruins. The Panettieres, after all, didn't need the property (as they were also the founders of a world-famous bread and pastry company), and sold it to the group that eventually turned the mansion into a sort of resort-type recovery center for those with...

"Physiological Inflictions", as their mother's attending supervisor might say.

When the supervisor arrived in the room flanked by two parallel glass window-walls, Roxas found himself automatically facing the window toward the exit, away from the others. In less than a minute, he'd see her again.

"Rox, we're leaving." _No, I don't want to go with you..._ "Rox! Roxas?"

"Coming, Dem." Unfortunately.

He stepped through the sliding glass doors that led to the space that was once a fountain that had been removed to make room for a pool. While scanning the chilly-looking pool deck, Roxas spotted a slight blonde woman nervously fiddling with her long, wavy brown skirt. He waited until the others caught on to be ushered in to her presence.

"Mom!"

Sora was the first to run to her, practically tackling her into the ground with an enthusiastic hug. Roxas lingered behind as the others took their turns greeting her.

"Roxas, sweetie?"

"Yeah." He looked up toward her. She looked better since last time, hair shinier, eyes less sunken in, skin with more pink undertones. She'd lost her glasses since the last time they were here. It didn't take a genius to figure out that their father had probably gotten permission to take her to get a pair of contacts, making her look even more like Roxas than he liked. Her facial structure was nearly mirror to his own, as he and Sora were fraternal twins and—although they looked alike—Sora's jawline as they got older was more reminiscent of their father's.

He hated it.

"Come h—" She stopped mid-sentence and lowered her head, as if remembering suddenly that he didn't like to be touched. Not by her.

Still, he acquiesced of his own volition and drew near her. Gauging the distance carefully, he stopped a safe four feet away from her; out of arm's reach, but within speaking distance.

"Hey." The syllable felt awkward and sticky in his mouth.

The woman smiled and shuffled her feet. "I missed you, Roxas." "_I'm glad you came this time_."

"Hn." "_No, you're not."_

He turned away as Demyx and Sora took seats beside her, each of them wrapping their arms around her waist, Sora chattering excitedly about nothing in particular like he always did when they were with her. It felt sickening to be here, the rehab center. Everywhere he looked, it felt like more of a fancy resort than a place where people went to get better. Behind the elegant white walls were people who were ex-alcoholics and pill abusers rich enough to pay their way here through some infatuated doctor-husband's wallet while he busied himself at home with prostitutes and his wife's old book club friends.

With this kind of atmosphere, Roxas wasn't surprised that his mother had lapsed back into her alcoholism twice; with the quality of friends available here, they would all relapse together.

"Roxas, don't you want to talk to your mother?" His father came up to stand beside him as he gazed out over where the marble fountain used to be.

"No." '_I don't want to. I never want to. Why do you still bother asking?'_

"She misses you."

From his peripheral, he watched his father's shoulders heave a sigh before retreating back to Rochelle Esment.

_'Just another two hours before I can see Axel,'_ he told himself. _'__J__ust a few hours and I'll be away from here with people who __**really**__ matter.'_

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Being the last one to shower, Axel turned the water off and stepped out into the thankfully toasty apartment in nothing but the cream-colored towel hanging off his hips. Having already blown his hair dry, his usually unruly hair fell in sleek, barely damp strands around his shoulders, but would no doubt dry into being strangely spike-puffy without the aid of hair product. He'd have to use gel or something to make them stand up. Axel didn't exactly relish in his hair looking like an upside-down pineapple top.

On the couch, Zexion sat waiting for him, book in hand (apparently, he found Atlantica fascinating, because Axel was sure this was the third time he'd passed through the book in the last couple of weeks). Laying in the lilac-haired man's lap was Riku, absentmindedly playing with Zexion's fingers as only his left hand propped the book up to eye level.

Axel lithely slipped into his room before Riku could comment on his state of undress.

Inside, he made the short trek over to his closet and rifled through a few of the dressy-looking shirts he unfortunately owned. It was unfair, really, how Riku and Zexion could look effortlessly classy in anything they wore, while Axel's hair type only made him look like an overgrown ragamuffin.

Settling on a plain button up shirt and a somehow classy gray vest and straight jeans, Axel quickly moved over to his mirror where the hair gel that he worshiped like the sun itself sat adjacent.

_'Maybe I'd look fine with my hair tied down...' _The thought didn't persist long, as he had already begun the motions for getting his hair into its famously porcupine-like state.

"Hey, Axel, do you need anything? Like, help with clothes?" Riku's voice came from the doorway.

"No, thanks, I'm good. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Alright. I was just asking in case you wanted my help."

Axel laughed and shouted back, "Yeah. Maybe I would want it if I was going for the pretty-boy look! I don't want your help." Who knew what kind of black (hypocrite), tight-fitting (hypocrite), flashy (hypocrite), pompous (hypocrite!) douchebag-y thing Riku could cook up for him.

(Hypocrite, hypocrite, _hypocrite!_)

Yeah, he didn't need Riku's help. He would be just fine on his ow—

_"You want it anyway," _the voice in his mind chuckled, _"like how you want the little blond Esment bo—"_

Axel slammed his hand against the wall and tightened his grip on the metal hairspray can. "We're just friends. F-r-i-e-n-d-s. That's. It," he muttered to himself. "We're nothing but friends."

_"Liar. You're a filthy fucking liar,"_ the shrill, yet dark voice laughed mockingly. _"I bet you just want to eat him up. You want to violate him so badly you get hard just thinking about it, don't you? Freak."_

Axel squeezed his eyes shut and rested his head against the wall beside the mirror. God. He was having all these stupid moments of self-doubt lately... like his mother-voiced conscience was out to get him with a ski mask and chainsaw.

A fucking _bloody_ chainsaw.

"Yo, Ax, you okay in there?" Riku. Again.

"Y-yeah," he called back. "I, uhh... I just dropped my hair spray. I'll be out in a few."

"Better hurry up or we'll be late," Zexion warned. He heard the shut and thud of a book falling onto a hard wood table.

After quickly spraying each spike from root to tip, Axel met his two best friends outside, each of them with their jackets in hand, and the three left for the quick train ride it took to get to Shibuya.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Roxas, Roxas, Rooooxas! Am I finally going to meet him?" Naminé was practically bouncing back and forth on the couch. The blond Esment watched, amused, as Marluxia moved subtly behind her, trying to avoid a skull-to-face collision with the petite girl's head.

Roxas ignored her and slumped down into his seat. This morning had been so awkward that it drained most of his tolerance and energy from his system. What a way to spend the first day of break... Hopefully Axel would be able to placate his need for human contact without wearing down on his patience.

"Rox? You okay?"

_'No, Nam, I'm not. I need to be alone... I need to think right now.'_

He pressed his lips together and ran his tongue against the inner seam nervously. Any minute now and his pretty blond-haired, blue-eyed facemask would break.

"Rox—"

"Hey, Naminé? Let's just leave him alone for now, okay?"

He felt the weight shift off the couch beside him, glancing up only once to see Marluxia and Naminé's retreating forms. Grateful to be left alone, Roxas curled into a ball on the couch and tipped over, letting his head rest against one of the throw pillows. He absentmindedly noted his surroundings.

Upon first glance, he could already tell that this room for a party of eight and up was much nicer than the seven and below ones they'd booked every previous year. Those smaller rooms' décors matched quite closely to the present room's. Where the old room had white walls with green and gold accents, the current one had lightly blue-tinted walls with royal blue and silver accents instead. With the addition of Zexion, Riku, and Axel came an actual raised stage a half foot from the floor, two leather couches instead of one, an additional potted plant, and a larger selection of songs to choose from. In fact, Roxas was pretty sure that if Demyx tinkered with the equipment a little, he could probably get away with performing a few of his original songs with the accompaniment CD he'd brought along.

In an attempt to distract himself, Roxas picked up one of the heavy black books laying on the table. It was considerably thicker than the ones in the smaller rooms and probably held about two hundred more songs. He flipped through the pages, noting that the first few were completely identical to the other booklets up until the last section and a half of newer music. Just as he was about to scour the new pages for anything he was familiar with, a small eruption of cheers and squeals burst toward his ear drums from the other side of the room.

"Hey, there's my little Chem genius! How did the finals go?"

To his disbelief, the edges of his mouth pulled up into a flirty smirk as Axel took his seat adjacent to—very, _very_ adjacent to—Roxas.

"Pretty well, actually," the blond replied, leaning back away from the booklet on the table. "And how are you?"

"Great. Anyway, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends here?"

Roxas looked up behind the redhead and smiled apologetically at Naminé and Marluxia. The blonde was nibbling her lip excitedly and would have been giggling aloud if it weren't for that fact that Marluxia had his arms wrapped around her skinny waist, pulled tight against his body. He could've sworn he saw just a little bit of protective, not-so-platonic comfort behind the pink-haired man's eyes.

Okay, so maybe flower boy _wasn't_ so gay, after all.

"Oh, right. Uhm, guys, this is Axel. Axel, these two are Naminé and Marluxia, respectively." He gestured to the pair, and Axel nodded.

"Nice to meet you two," he greeted politely. Naminé smiled and Marluxia murmured something akin to 'likewise' before the pair wandered off toward where Riku, Sora, and Zexion were standing around, chatting.

"So is that your older brother?" Axel nodded toward the general direction of the stage, where Demyx crouched beside the sound system, inspecting the equipment with his case of CDs zipped shut beside his knee.

Roxas nodded. "Yup, that's Demyx. You'll probably have plenty of time to get to know him later; he kind of doesn't _not_ leave an impression, ya know?"

"Oh, I'm quite familiar with the type," Axel laughed. "I live with Riku, remember?"

Roxas smirked and quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, really? I thought you were going to refer to yourself!"

"Hey! Not cool at all!" Axel replied indignantly.

"Just look at your hair! Who has that kind of style and doesn't go unnoticed?" Roxas continued.

A sudden wolfish grin appeared on Axel's face and he leaned toward the blond, so close his nose was bare inches away from Roxas's face. He could smell the cologne and hairspray on Axel's body mixed in with the faded scent of cigarette smoke, the now familiar apple-ish scent combating the usual queasiness that often came rolling in after Roxas was around cigarette smoke for too long.

"Are you admitting something here? Am I that unforgettable?"

Much to his chagrin, Axel quirked his lip and _winked_.

"I-I... That's not what I meant!" Roxas spluttered, pushing the redhead away playfully. "Totally _not_what I meant!"

"Suit yourself," he chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to go introduce myself to your brother. After all, according to you, we both leave big impressions, so I wanna leave the bigger one."

After receiving a two-fingered salute and a sly grin from Axel, Roxas watched bemusedly as the redhead got up from his seat and headed toward the stage. If the last few minutes were any sort of indication, the rest of the night was going to be great.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

_"Rewire this, pop that out... no, not __**that**__ piece. This part. Move over, kid, and let me show you..."_

The running commentary of instructions and chuckles continued playing in Demyx's head—he followed them down to the very last syllable. He could almost feel the way the thirty-year-old would come up behind him and "teach" him how to set the machine while his toned, ever-tan bare arms would slide along Demyx's biceps and flow down to over his hands. The way their bodies would be pressed way too closely to be considered simply employee and boss.

Even the way Larxene would sometimes walk over to Xigbar and chuckle at how "it's obvious you two are totally banging. Hard."

In truth, it had been a while since Demyx had considered hopping back between the sheets with his boss. There was no tension at work; Xigbar loved his sex, but he wasn't an addict. Demyx could sympathize, especially after the initial attraction died down into constant, misread-by-outsiders sort of flirting. And, luckily, sometime within the last few weeks of abstinence, he'd gotten to pro level with karaoke machinery.

"Hey, you're Demyx, right?"

He glanced over toward the ground to see the hems of a man's pair of straight jeans and red, marker-decorated shoes poking out from underneath. He smirked and turned back to the machine and continued to rearrange the system.

"Yes, I'm Demyx. I'm going to assume you're Axel." He stood up from his crouch, still bent over and inspecting.

"Got that right." The blond could hear the smile in his voice.

He stood up, hands on hips to face said man and his voice. The redhead stood a full six inches taller than Demyx and was about three fourths his size width-wise. Judging by the way he carried himself, Axel was a self-assured man, likely with no qualms about being the instigator of most anything.

"Nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise. So and Rox have told me about you."

Axel raised a thin, red eyebrow. "Really, now? And what have they been saying?"

Demyx rolled his eyes and gazed fondly at his two younger siblings who were being tickle-attacked by the Panettiere sisters. At each end of the couch stood a manly-bodied-feminine-haired male, hiding his chuckles from the rambunctious quartet.

"Things that probably shouldn't be shared with you, if anything."

"Scandalous, no doubt," Axel joked back, grinning.

Demyx nodded behind a chuckle. "So you gonna sing tonight?"

"Hel—heck yes," Axel censored himself. So the redhead was trying to make a good impression, huh? If this behavior wasn't stained with undertones, then Demyx didn't know what was.

"I'm looking forward to it," the blond replied. "Please excuse me now, as I have a pair of twins I'm obligated to poke fun at."

"Please," Axel nodded, gesturing toward the black leather couch, "go right ahead."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Although Roxas was snuggled up quite comfortably between his brother and Axel, there was still something missing amongst the current cacophony of Kairi and Riku (who had bonded surprisingly quickly) purposefully singing duets badly for Sora's bewildered amusement. That 'something'?

Demyx's voice.

He hadn't been texting for a while, but he'd periodically checked his phone for the time out of habit, only to find that almost an hour and a half had gone by and his musician of a brother still hadn't picked up the microphone yet. Of course, that shouldn't have been any sort of surprise. The mulleted blond had a strict rule against touching the microphone until everyone'd had a turn—willing or unwilling. Unfortunately, Zexion didn't seem to want to bring his lips anywhere near the mic.

But Roxas didn't really mind at the moment, considering he had a more interesting person seated against his right arm.

"Hey, Axel?" The teen nudged the man's side with his elbow. "I've got a question."

He glanced up toward the redhead nervously, only to find Axel was gazing at his face, his lips settled into the mold of a calm smile. In the golden-tinged light of the rented room, his usually pale face exuded a flush-healthy glow that made the tattoos under his eyes look more natural than Roxas had ever remembered seeing them.

"Mm?"

It was a soft, throaty questioning sound that made Roxas want to curl up on the couch hugging a pillow and let the man run his fingers through his hair.

_'Distracting thoughts. __**Bad**__ distracting thoughts.'_

Vaguely, he registered Sora getting up from his space, leaving himself and Axel alone on the couch.

"Roxy? You're staring. Is there something you wanted to ask or did you forget already?"

"No," he scoffed lightheartedly. "I just... I just wanna know why I didn't... " '_see you anymore after the day we first met.' _Roxas paused, the unspoken words weighing heavily against his throat before he amended, "I mean, why you said yes when I asked you to come."

'_A question equally as intrusive and awkward. Wonderful.'_

He cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"I mean..." The blond darted his eyes back and forth, then squeezed them shut and let out a shallow through-the-nose type laugh that shook his diaphragm and made the corners of his eyes wrinkle. "I mean," he repeated, a joyless smile on his face, "that I'm just some kid in high school, and you're in college; why waste your time with me?"

"Because I thought you wanted me here," Axel replied. "Or are you taking that back now?"

Roxas shifted his vision toward the small stage where Sora and Kairi were singing along to one of Melodious Nocturne's older songs, with Sora on the melody and Kairi on the harmony (and doing quite badly, at that; the girl's ears weren't made for the supporting parts). His eyes connected with his twin's, and the two shared a smile.

"I'm not particularly special or anything, though," Roxas murmured as he watched Sora and Kairi turn toward each other and begin serenading one another with the call and response section of the song. Badly.

"No, of course you aren't," Axel smirked. "Because you're not an amazing runner whose legs move so much faster than mine that I kinda wish I was shorter and didn't smoke so much." There was a shifting on his right, and he felt the redhead pull their bodies closer together. He whispered, voice low and sincere, "I like hanging out with you; why would I decline?"

A feeling of gratitude toward those words settled into Roxas's chest, and he relaxed his body just a bit more to fall closer toward the redhead.

Which was the exact moment when Demyx decided to show off the camera function on his snazzy new phone.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Zexion didn't mind social settings; the son of a hospital director was required to attend certain formal dinner parties to mingle with and impress guests.

But... this was too different from the kind of stiffy-suited, high-society company he was used to. Normally, being with Riku and Axel—only Riku and Axel—in this kind of situation was bearable, because the pair knew when Zexion could take a little fun and when they needed to stop poking and prodding for reactions out of him. Unfortunately, the two men were currently with their respective future-bedmates (oddly, asexual Zexion had a bit of a knack for predicting his best friends' love lives), which left the purple-haired man on a couch, silent, yet still enjoying himself by enjoying the view and the energy the other people at the party were giving off.

After all, he much more preferred to lean amongst the sidelines of the party with the company of a great work of literature—most human interaction was so... banal.

Bickering started up from somewhere near the opposite end of the table he was seated next to, and Zexion looked up to see the little blond Roxas struggling to grab a phone from his older brother...

_'What was his name? Dylan? No, it was more out of the ordinary. Dmitri, perhaps?' _Ironically, it was far too difficult for Zexion to remember unconventional names. _'Dexter... Dem... Demyx? Yes. Demyx Esment.'_

Roxas was wrestling with Demyx.

And Demyx was... okay with it. In fact the older blond was laughing and taking advantage of his typically-medium-but-still-taller-than-the-twins' height to keep the track runner from catching his phone.

Hands folded in his lap, Zexion leaned back in the couch and watched, entertained.

That is, until the Demyx's surprisingly beach-blue-green eyes met his and a devious grin spread over his face. In an instant, the blond was at Zexion's feet, protecting the bookish man from Roxas's prying hands.

"Hey, Dem, no fair!" Roxas complained. "You can't just throw your camera to Zexy!" He turned his face toward Zexion's and pleaded, "Please, delete the pictures!"

Zexion looked down at the phone in his hand and quickly navigated to the images section and saw the most recent twenty photos at the top of the list. After a few graceful button taps, he tip-toed his way over to where Axel was sitting on the couch and nonchalantly spread the redhead's legs and wedged the phone between the man's thighs, comfortably close to his groin.

"Retrieve if you must," he smiled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

To his immense surprise, Demyx reached between Axel's legs and pulled his cellphone out. With Roxas standing silent, mouth agape in awe, the older blond turned to Zexion and smiled, pinching the thin phone between two fingers, displaying it triumphantly.

"Looks like I've got it."

Impressed, Zexion uncharacteristically smiled back, and returned to reading his book on Atlantica's aquatic life.

Which didn't last long when two seconds later, Demyx was sitting in the adjacent couch, introducing himself. Kind of.

"Sexy Zexy."

The lilac-haired man looked up from between the covers of his book and stared at the blond. "What?"

"People call you that a lot, don't they?" Demyx continued, folding his arms against the arm of the couch and resting his chin on the back of his forearms.

Zexion smirked and set his book down. "They _try_ to."

"And you never let the louts get away with it more than half a time, do you?" They shared a quiet, amused moment before Demyx continued, "Have you been here before?"

To be honest, Zexion had been to this place before. Many times, in fact. But Demyx didn't need to know that.

"No, I haven't."

Demyx smiled and cocked his head to the side. "So why are you just sitting there, reading? Don't you want to sing?"

"I'm rubbish when it comes to those kinds of things. Performing, I mean." He tried to press his nose back between the book covers, but to no avail.

"Then you should try to experience it!" Demyx concluded. "What kind of music do you like?"

"I only listen to instrumentals," he lied, trying to train his eyes back to the words in front of him.

Demyx rolled his eyes. "You're lying," he claimed, standing up and moving in front of the reading man, his hands coming down on the arms of the seat, trapping Zexion against the armchair. "I saw you mouthing along words earlier to Axel's song; you can't fool me."

Zexion, annoyed, set his book in his lap and crossed his arms. Well, wasn't this man intrusive? He might have to teach the blond idiot to leave people alone when they asked. Head set on telling the man off as abrasively as possible, Zexion looked up with the intention of glaring at Demyx as coldly as he could, only to find that he... well, he couldn't.

Because there was Demyx before him, genuine happiness and resolve in his face, and Zexion couldn't let himself be a destroyer of personal happiness. It just didn't sit well on the uncommonly heavy conscience he had.

"Fine," he replied to his own astonishment. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go up there and do something," the blond stated simply, nodding toward the stage. "It doesn't even have to be a song if you don't want it to be." His eyes flickered down to the book in Zexion's lap. "Hell, you could read a passage from your book if you want. I know chapter six has that great section on types of coral in Atlantica's reefs."

The little offhanded acknowledgment of Zexion's pleasure reading addled his perception of the rocker, but not enough to count. Nothing could really shake the way Zexion initially read people—that was something he prided himself in. All modesty aside, he was an excellent judge of character, especially when it came to his own age group. People were all the same, all thinking thoughts that were more often than not unspectacular at best, and this Demyx person was no different.

Or, apparently not, as Zexion realized with the help of Demyx's guiding hands, his legs had carried him to the stage and a scrap sheet of foreign longhand written in a mix of sporadic upper and lowercase was placed between his fingers. After a few moments of adjusting to the languid writing, Zexion cleared his throat and brought his lips to the microphone. Sometime within the last half minute, something happened that eluded his short term memory entirely.

It was a bit unnerving.

"First off," Zexion watched his friends' expressions calmly, "I want to say I have no idea what the fuck this is, and it's not mine."

"That's what sh—"

"Kairi, shut up."

Zexion smiled at Roxas for the assistance, then cleared his throat once more before reading the words off the paper.

"It falls, it fades, you drift away." The first line is quiet, still, unemotional, and Zexion can't help but watch who he thinks is the author's face as he continues to read off the paper. "The blinding perhaps... of things, of thoughts. Carry it, carry me..."

Zexion stopped and quietly read the next few lines on the sheet before looking back up toward those strange blue-green eyes that were urging him on with quiet reassurance that he was doing just fine.

"Away, away, away from here," Zexion continued, watching Demyx's facial expression as the words grew from trapped-in-a-glassbox letters (which one could only appreciate visually—not experience fully) to sounds coming for a stranger's throat. "Away, away, and away from you, I—"

The people sitting in front of him stopped breathing with him, so Zexion shut off and set down the microphone.

"Loops and lines, introspective finds,

"Ignore it, ignore me.

"Do what you do; be what you be.

"You stay here; I go there.

"It's safer like this; safer this way."

Zexion folded the halfsheet of paper and looked up toward Demyx who was pressing his hands together to block the center of a smile that was forming on his face. Amused—as he always was when people decided to interact with him civilly on their own accord—he returned the folded sheet to Demyx and resumed his date with _Atlantica's Aquatic Life_.

And the date now flopped like a flaccid chocobo without Gysahl Greens.

Nose pressed between the pages of his book, Zexion tried his hardest to tune out the admittedly familiar music style that he would never have admitted listening to given normal circumstances. Unable to resist the urge to set down his paperback, Zexion lowered his arms and folded his hands in his lap.

It flickered through his mind a few times, this vague notion that perhaps his books were becoming more of a third wheel than a companion, but he quickly banished it as silly—there was no reasonable explanation for this kind of comparison.

"So, now that all of you have gone, I'm pretty sure no one will try to throw spontaneous rotten tomatoes at me for hogging the stage."

Zexion scoffed and rolled his eyes, causing Demyx to turn his attention toward the bookish man.

"Hey," he smiled with what Zexion thought looked like a condescending glint in his eyes. "You don't know me and my voice yet do you? This isn't unrealistic, I promise."

He nodded back, trying to look aloof, but his interest was already piqued. Not in the friendly, amicable way, however.

This was more of a... get-to-know-the-megalomaniac-before-his-ego-explodes-his-head kind of curiosity, as the blond rocker seemed more than eager to impress his new crowd of three. It was a safety mechanism, a way to gauge the level of the explosion before it occurred. A scientific inquiry. A distraction between his bouts of boredom.

A just in case.

The purple-haired man chuckled inwardly, and murmured, "Everything is a relative just in case."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

With the smooth surface of his rosewood guitar under his arms and the strings pressed to his fingertips, Demyx began plucking out a series of simple notes that contained a harmonic wistfulness despite its implied role as the song's melodic motif. Every time his fingers plucked the iron strings, Demyx's eyes squinted and the sprout of a contented smile that began when he picked up the guitar widened. With every mini riff, the blond's tongue would slide out from between his lips and press his bottom lip against his teeth, and then bite his tongue—a teeth-tongue-lip-teeth sandwich.

There was this little rush that went through his mind whenever he played a particularly lovely chord or a striking kind of chord progression or whenever he was standing the middle of a choir, blasting out the mindfuck of a thirteen-part chord with a three-note split for each voice and a four split for the sopranos.

"Now," he spoke, voice decidedly _un_-musical as he addressed his twin brothers and their friends, "Business is about to go down. You guys are about to hear a song that hasn't been played over the radio; a new composition, if you will. In fact, it's so new that I've never played it before. I just came up with it while you lovely little people were singing your mighty ol' hearts out on this here stage. Tell me what you think, but keep in mind that this thing will be riddled with textual clichés. "

He continued to pluck the strings of his guitar, the capo set close to the middle of the neck, bringing that higher pitch quality that mixed nicely with his tenor voice. He slowed down his fingers and plucked a solid three notes (F#—E—D) before he began humming the tune he'd invented.

It wasn't hard to concentrate, the melody was a simple one, and he was simply strumming away chords and the occasional string of single notes. He hummed for the most part, collecting the words he'd written as he'd silently observed the bookish Zexion, and setting them in some semblance of a mathematical, musical pattern.

Running a bit on autopilot, Demyx let the words and feelings flow from his brain, disconnecting the filter between his mind and his mouth. Instead, he preferred to lose himself in the music, let what he was feeling manifest in the tones.

In his mental backdrop, he held a picture of Atlantica's famed aquarium, and the tropical fish tank his friend Ariel tended. So he translated the clear blue of the water into fluid music and the tropical fish into his vocals, bright and soft.

Had someone asked him why he composed music as he did, he would have answered that it was his favorite exhibit in the entire establishment, the colors and clarity of the life in there always made him feel muted yet alive. It created the feelings he spent his life searching for, the...

"Paradox of paradoxes," he whispered to himself as the song came to a close. He looked up from his guitar and nodded at the mass of human bodies, perfectly still from the couch, a few of their faces still and others warmed with smiles.

_'Hopefully, I've lost nothing in translation.'_

And judging from the perplexing look he was receiving from the corner of his vision, nothing was lost on the geekchic male with the purple hair.

He turned to fully face the man and gave him a genuine smile. The subsequent snap back to reality and faint dizzy look on his face betrayed more emotionally than Demyx would think his type would allow.

The song was a success, and well... if he remembered it later, then he'd make sure to talk to Xiggy about getting it recorded.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Zexion was in awe.

There was something familiar about that voice, something he couldn't place. A quality about it that brought this... _feeling_. This foreign-but-not-entirely fuzziness that spread from somewhere around his sternum and spread to the edges of his body. He'd felt like he was blending with the air around him, like his body was floating, or suspended in midair, or flowing into some other part of the universe past the boundaries of the tangible and straight in to the world of metaphysics.

And those ridiculously green eyes.

He was supposed to be an excellent judge of character, and this music wasn't what he'd expected to come from the bright and bubbling young man. According to the way he usually knew people, this Demyx character should've been a pompous amateur musician—the type of asshat that faked playing guitar to get women, the kind of guy that was—excuse his momentary colloquialism—a poseur.

He hadn't expected to be _moved_.

_'But this is Roxas's brother you're talking about. If anything, this should be an indication that artistry runs in the family. Well, perhaps, as Sora doesn't exactly seem like the type...'_

In the mean time, if he ever met Demyx again, there was still time to prove his theory on the blond's character right. There were such things as anomalies within the human race. Albeit few, Zexion believed in anomalies—they were statistically proven to exist, and therefore they were reliable rarities to fall back on upon the encountering of certain... artifacts of life, Zexion supposed.

He'd been staring at the ground when the musician's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"So, I think you're interesting," he stated, which quite honestly startled Zexion. "And I've decided I want to get to know you better as a person. Now, this sounds weird but do you want to hang out sometime this week? I'm here for like, twenty days, so anytime then would be great. And I promise I'm not asking you out—unless you're interested, of course." He grinned down at Zexion, whose upturned face held the distinct quirk of an eyebrow. It was hard to tell whether or not he was joking.

"As do I," Zexion responded, to his own surprise, without thinking. So when did he begin to find the musician interesting?

"Then it's settled." Demyx grinned and pulled out a notebook and broken pencil from his back pocket. Zexion watched, eyebrow now deflated and un-quirked, as the blond scribbled something onto the small sheet with his nub of a pencil. He then proceeded to rip the sheet out of the notebook and fold it in to a neat square, which he promptly placed in the center of the palm of his left hand and held out for Zexion to take.

And Zexion, still feeling as though he were not in control of his own body, took the proffered square and tucked it safely in to the pocket of his pants.

"You should call me sometime soon," Demyx suggested. "And if you don't, I'll bug Sora for your number until he gives it to me."

"Sora doesn't have my number," Zexion replies almost instantaneously. '_How unnecessary of you, Zexion Corazza, to supply a complete and total stranger with a means to contact you._'

Zexion didn't like the feeling of Demyx's curious, oddly insightful gaze directed at him. He felt awkward and slightly violated at the notion.

Nor did he particularly relish in the strange, jitterynervousexcited feeling budding in the space directly behind his chest.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It was an hour later when the only romantically involved couple in the room decided that enough of the night had been spent amongst a group. Leaning against Roxas's body, sleepy and stomach filled to contentment with the desserts Demyx had brought then, Sora nearly elbowed a bruise in to his brother's ribs when an unexpected (and unexpectedly silent) buzz vibrated against his leg.

"Watch it, chocohead," Demyx chuckled from across the table. "You're going to remove one of Rox's spare ribs."

"Hahaha." Sora rolled his eyes and stretched his legs forward, sliding down against the back of the couch, to get his phone from his pocket. By now there were two messages, both from the same person.

_"Wanna leave? ;)"_

_"Your mother's face."_

"What are you looking at?"

Sora held up his cell phone, the screen showing Riku's second decoy message. Thank god for unlimited texting.

"Wow. That's... inventive." Roxas commented, snickering. "Who sent you that? Joshua?"

Sora simply grinned back, ready to answer when—

_Nok-Nok-Nok._

All heads swiveled toward the door to the karaoke room where a uniformed female employee smiled politely at the cluster of gay men and their two girly pets.

"I'm sorry to say, but your night's time has run out."

Demyx swiftly stood up from his chair where he was idly fingering his guitar, and in a few steps' notice was leaning against the door frame opposite the girl.

"Is there any way we could pay to extend our time?"

She smiled apologetically, cheeks flushing from the proximity to the musician. "I-If you'd like to stay longer, I might be able to arrange another smaller room for you, but another party has already booked this room starting the next half hour and on..."

The entire group stood up as Demyx smiled and nodded, heading back toward the stage where he'd rearranged the sounds system to set it back to normal.

"We'll be out of your hair in five minutes," Sora assured her. The girl nodded gratefully and stepped out in to the hallway.

"Thanks."

Sora could almost hear a winking smiley at the end of her reply.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora stood a bit awkwardly with Kairi as they watched Marluxia and Naminé flirt.

"Stop punching my face!" the blond girl squealed as Marluxia playfully bumped his fist gently against the side of her head.

He sighed, as if exasperated. "I'm _not_ punching your face; it's a _love bump_."

She stopped and a sort of disbelieving look fell over her features. "A 'love bump'?"

"Yes," Marluxia affirmed, tossing his pink curls over one shoulder, looking quite flamboyantly indignant as he did so.

"… In my _eye_?"

The pink-haired man nodded. "What can I say? I'm attracted to non-gender-specific body parts."

Naminé took to pounding her fake angry little fists against his chest, and Marluxia—being the surprisingly good-humored diva he was—let her, and even faked being in pain. Kairi laughed loudly and took on the role of referee to make sure Naminé didn't really starting packing the _oomph_behind her poundings and punches, leaving Sora positively ignored. Not that he minded.

Sora seized this opportunity to look around at the shelves of music that surrounded their small group, surreptitiously glancing over the heads of the shelves to catch glimpses of the other half their friends on the other side of the store. Well, to catch a glance at Riku, really.

Their eyes met across the way, and without thinking they both began heading toward the same other corner of the store.

A mix of rose-tinted gold and obsidian black threads made up the carpet beneath Sora's shuffling feet. The brunet began inspecting the M through N section of the Rock genre in the store, picking up The Melodious Nocturne's new album, which was a surprising two CDs away from being sold out. He would have to congratulate his brother later.

It was hard not to turn and clasp hands with his paramour when Riku slinked up beside him from behind.

"We should get outta here."

Sora could feel the silver hair brushing along the back of his neck and glanced nervously toward the groups of their friends along the other end of the music store. Demyx, obviously in his element, was gesturing enthusiastically to a surprisingly rapt-looking Axel. Zexion and Roxas, on the other hand, shared quiet looks of amusement and occasionally picked up CDs and compared them to the sheet music selection available on the shelves nearby.

"It's not often you find a music shop with CDs _and_ sheets for contemporary artists," he heard Demyx say loudly. "This is like, the dream store I'd own if I wasn't so in to... well, ya know."

"You make it sound like your job is something shady or dirty... like you do porn or something," Roxas commented, and laughed soon after.

Demyx grinned. "I would make a great porn star, wouldn't I?"

Sora chuckled to himself as he turned back to Riku. The silveret's eyes were staring at his face, intent and not altogether _there_. If any of their friends or his siblings looked over, he would have to answer some awkward questions.

"Yeah." He responded. The rest of the group was doing fine without them. "If only we had an excuse to get away."

"Just you wait, Sora. I'll think of something," Riku smiled wistfully and bumped the tip of Sora's nose with his index finger.

And evidently, Sora didn't need to wait long. Quietly, Zexion had slipped up beside them sometime during their short exchange and was now darting his suspicious eyes between the two males. Sora got an itchy-tickley feeling in the middle of his back, like Zexion might comment on what he'd just seen and make his thoughts known to the other people of their party.

"Everyone's ready to go. Are you guys coming along?"

Before Sora could reply, Riku cut in. "Actually, I found some things I wanna get, but I'm having a hard time deciding which to get. Didn't bring enough money, ya know. Anyway, you guys can go ahead without me."

"I-I'm going to stay here and keep him company," Sora supplied before Zexion could ask him anything. "We'll catch up to you."

"You don't know where we're going," Zexion stated a bit shortly.

Sora grinned. "You can tell us though, right?"

"I suppose. We're going back to your place for a while, so save enough money for transportation." The corner of his mouth quirked up a bit. Sora assumed it was a smile, but it was still hard read Zexion's expressions after spending so many months in his company. He also supposed that Zexion knew what they were doing.

"Alright," Riku nodded. "We'll see you soon."

"Yeah. See you soon," Sora echoed.

That was if "soon" could be defined as "tomorrow morning". And in this context, it ironically could be.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Twenty minutes later, Sora and Riku were back at Riku's apartment, disbelieving of their good luck.

"Who knew there would be a massive power outage today?" Sora commented, sarcastically.

Riku smiled, silently amused, lighting the surroundings of his apartment with the glow of his phone as he searched for a flashlight. Sora stood by the door, hands clasped together patiently.

"And that the Twilight Town-Radiant Garden and Twilight Town-Shibuya tracks would be out of order right when we needed them." He couldn't see it, and there was no proof of it, but Riku could almost picture the majestic eyebrow quirk that was most likely adorning Sora's face at the moment.

"We're such awful liars," Riku laughed. "I'm just glad you sent it over text. I doubt Axel would've believed it if we'd called them."

"Agreed. Even though this power outage business _is_ real."

He rummaged through their kitchen junk drawer and produced a weak-powered flashlight. The light from the blue and silver device flickered a bit when Riku clicked it on. It spluttered twice and flickered out of life.

"You might wanna find new batteries for that thing," Sora called over, still unmoving from the door. "Or, maybe even some candles."

"Candles it is."

Luckily, he knew exactly where in his room Axel kept his cheap lighters and which candles he was allowed to use during power outages. They would be, after all, the ones with melted marshmallow bits stuck to the wax. The excursion to Axel's room only lasted a few moments, and Riku came back to the living with a small armful of candles and candle holders, the fading flashlight clenched painfully between his teeth. Sora was by now waiting on the couch, having moved when Riku was gone from the room, fiddling with his phone which was beeping annoyingly as it announced its imminent death.

Sora stood up from the seat he'd taken on the couch to take the flashlight from Riku's mouth. "I've got it."

"Thanks." Riku smiled and leaned forward to kiss his boyfriend's forehead. "Now I'll get these things lit and placed. You just wait on the couch."

"Aye-aye, sir," Sora grinned, saluting. He watched Riku's backside out of the corners of his eyes and pressed his lips together to prevent from commenting. He would much rather keep the current view of Riku's strong back and square shoulders hunched over the table in the living room.

* * *

The rest of the night's fun continues in the next chapter. Meanwhile, I'd like to thank you all for being so patient with me. Heh. Hopefully I can get part two out before my Spring Break is over. :)

Some of you guys: Does this big, empty space now imply you're cutting the crap off the bottom?  
Me: Yes, it does. Although, you'd think the crap would fall off on it's own.  
Some of you guys: -pull out sporks and point them to my face-  
Me: ohthnxgaiz, I get it. No one wants me near an A/N oppotunity.

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	10. Disappearing Act

HOLY. SHIT. I can't believe it's been so long since I updated. This is short, but I promised to update before year's end, so when I finished college apps, I hauled ass and decided **bitches gonna write.**

Thanks people who bugged me to update during my haitus. Love you guys.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE.

* * *

**Call Me  
**Disappearing Act

"The trains are down."

Everyone turned to face Roxas and Axel who were just closing the door to the Esment residence. Roxas toed his shoes off, and glanced up, confused, toward Axel.

"I just got a text from Sora," the redhead explained. "The trains shut down because of a regional power outage from the snowstorm. He and Riku are stuck in our apartment until the trains go back up tomorrow morning."

_'Well, that's awfully convenient...'_ Roxas bit his lip. _'Hopefully Sora's gotten over his fear of Riku by now. Maybe they'll actually get somewhere.'_

After he stripped himself of his gothic-styled bondage coat and black gloves, Roxas plopped down atop Naminé's lap and proceeded to sprawl across the laps of the three people on the couch—Marluxia, Naminé, and Kairi. The redhead began absentmindedly running her fingers through his cold hair while Marluxia squirmed awkwardly under his calves a couple times before he wormed his way out from under Roxas's legs.

"We should have some hot chocolate and spiced cider," he announced to the room, receiving nods of agreement and murmurs of 'I'll have the cider' from the group. He planted his hands on his hips and huffed toward the small crowd, his petalpink bangs kicking up slightly as he exhaled. "I'm not the one who lives here, so I'm gonna need some help with this."

"I'll do it," Demyx offered, jumping up as quickly as he'd sat down. No one commented on that fact that Demyx didn't live there anymore.

They disappeared to the kitchen and the small group was left in silence. On his own volition, Axel stood up from where he was perched on the arm of a couch Zexion inhabited, and slid in to the space beside Naminé to settle comfortably into Marluxia's old spot under Roxas's calves. From the other end of the couch, Roxas stared down toward his nondescript black socks and wriggled his toes.

"Your socks are really boring," Axel commented after a bout of awkward silence.

Roxas glared at Axel's gray-socked feet. "So are yours. I thought you'd put more _Wham!_ into your style details, Axel."

The redhead frowned and rolled his eyes as the others giggled around him. Zexion's eyes met his for a brief second, and Axel turned away. Sometimes it almost as if Zexion were mocking him for his lack of candor—it wasn't his fault that he'd learned his manners from his mother.

"Fucking prissy megalomaniacs, the two of us," Axel murmured to himself, amused. "Damn."

Another bout of fan-whipping-the-air sounds passed before anyone bothered to pipe up. Low, indiscernible tones wafted over from the kitchen.

Axel sighed. "Someone should get a movie started or something. We're just laying here like limp noodles."

"Axel's a limp noo—"

A gasp. "Naminé!"

"Sorry, sorry! Anyways, I'm on it!" the little blonde pushed Roxas off her body, sprang up from her seat, and squatted (gracefully, of course) beside the leftmost DVD case. "Roxas, what is this stuff?"

Roxas broke away from the couch, his cute little ass shaking a bit in front of Axel's face before he crossed to where Naminé was waiting. "It's Demyx's chunk of the DVD collection." He bent over, plucked seven movies from different locations along the case's shelves, and resurfaced with two hands of DVD cases. "We've got A Beautiful Mind, Pontypool, Serenity, The Room, The Lord of the Rings, Bambi, and 28 Days Later. Who wants what?"

"We could watch them all," Axel suggested. "In that order."

Zexion facepalmed.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Now what?"

Two simple, simple words that left Riku's mind awash with possibilities of what could take place next. Sora's face was cast within a reddish-brown golden glow, the result of various glows from each wick in the candlelit room each caressing the angles of his jawline and the curves of his cheekbones. The sight was ethereal, the way the double sapphires of Sora's eyes melded with the reflection of fire in the pastel lighting.

Riku smiled and stepped toward the younger boy, lacing their hands together to guide Sora toward the couch. He quickly stripped Sora of his shirt, cold fingers trailing like shadows, almost afraid to touch the brunet too fully all over the newly exposed skin. Repressing a small gasp from the sight of his boyfriend's smooth, soft chest, Riku pressed the tip of two fingers against the center of Sora's chest to force him to sit before pulling his shirt off his body and joining the brunet on the couch. It was amusing, really, how the only tension in the air seemed to be emanating from Sora's eyes on Riku's bare skin and Riku's eyes on Sora's soft, wet tongue moistening his lower lip.

"Lay with me here?" he proposed. Sora complied and the two melted into a laying position amongst the pillows and blanket spread atop the plush couch. With the petit teen settled in his arms, Riku allowed himself some leeway with his self-restraint and trailed his fingers along the bare skin at the hem of Sora's shirt. The skin there was smooth and hilly, dipping so slightly around the younger male's spine and raising again quickly after in a graceful, defined arc.

The pair was quiet for an extended silence, Riku with his eyes watching the snow outside the window, Sora with his face—cold nose and all— buried against Riku's chest to warm up. The chilled point of contact sent a pleasant shake-twitch-shiver sensation through his body. The silveret touched a finger to the edge between Sora's cheek and jawline and stroked in a solid upward line until his hand rested against the teen's neck.

"As nice as your face is all pressed up against my chest, your nose is starting to burn a hole in my left pectoral."

Sora giggled. "You enjoy the cold."

"Not this kind."

Their chuckles slowly died out, letting the candlelit halflight fill the spaces along their two bodies. With Riku's arms encircled around Sora's waist, hands rubbing along the sides of his skinny arms, the room didn't feel so cold anymore. Closing his eyes and burrowing against Riku's chest once more, Sora pictured the snow outside.

The swirling white bits would be floating down in gentle puffs, each one landing atop a building or a street or a sidewalk or a child's tongue. The thought that the ones that landed on buildings were the loneliest pieces crossed his mind, but soon melted away as the image of white sky falling took over inside his mental picture frame.

"Have you... When you were a kid, did you ever look up when it was snowing?"

"Maybe when I was real little," Riku replied, biting the inside of his bottom lip. "Why?"

"I always liked how the snow looked dark against the sky, ya know? It's like... you can never quite tell where it's coming from; when I was a little kid I always felt falling snow came from Forever."

Riku smiled and nuzzled his face into the crook of Sora's neck, brushing his lips against the skin there and inhaling deeply. This was the part of Sora's body that smelled most potently like him in that deep, oakish way.

"Forever, hmm?"

"Yeah." Sora placed his hand against the back of Riku's head and watched the strands of silver hair gleam slightly orange in the candlelight. Like setting silk on fire without the melting, or rather the flames were imbued into the silk. "Like it was the embodiment of the concept; like looking up when it snowed was looking at Forever..."

He sighed placidly, tracing the edges of Sora's collarbone with his fingers. "That sounds wonderful."

The brunet squirmed a little and sighed as he felt Riku shift beneath him. As he was moving up to accommodate for the shift, Riku's arms loosened around him and his hands slid to grasp at Sora's sides. Before he could even giggle from the sensation of being held there, Riku had already flipped their positions.

"That's nice." Sora giggled, pressing his palms to his face, a little embarrassed. It wasn't an explainable embarrassment—he just didn't know what else to feel.

"Yes, it is."

Riku pressed his face against Sora's stomach, equally cold nose nuzzling along the left, making Sora jump and chuckle. In response, Sora threaded his fingers through Riku's silk strands of hair and began massaging the man's scalp. Soon, Sora noticed Riku's lips pressing little butterfly kisses against his stomach. They were so delicate that he couldn't remember when they'd started, only when the pleasant shivers began and his breathing quickened just the slightest.

He watched with a sort of rapt fascination as Riku ran his lips higher, across the length-wise span of Sora's sternum, up to his chest, collarbone, neck where he stopped and sighed against the hollow behind Sora's left ear.

"I think I kind of love you."

Sora stiffened as his boyfriend readjusted his weight to his elbows around the brunet's body. Then, as if he was putting himself at Sora's mercy, he rested his chin against Sora's chest so that his neck was parallel with Sora's body. The smile Sora saw was filled with unsure excitement, like he was a child who had just admitted to being the person who attempted to steal the class turtle but chickened out before he even tried and felt good about admitting it. Which was lucky, because Sora was the type of person that would pat that child on the head and hug them for being so willing to admit to a mistake.

"Sora?" He wanted a response.

"Thanks, Riku," he murmured smiling. "And I think I'm kinda on my way to loving you, too."

It only took a quiet, tentative kiss to the jaw before Sora's fingers clutched at Riku's hair, pulling and scratching as the older man's mouth began working toward devouring the brunet's neck. The sensation of teeth pulling progressively deeper, so hard hot wet latching and sucking and pressing against his quickly sore tendons, the feeling of a tongue pressed hard against his jugular, of fingers roaming and tweaking at ever small niche and cranny in his body made Sora's nerves set on fire. The least he could do while lost in this haze of sudden heat and pressure was graze his nails across Riku's back, digging deeper every time the silveret's perfect teeth bit lower and lower toward his chest, sternum, abs, stomach, hips...

The sensation of a nose, forehead, lips brushing along his body, the tongue that was so soft, barely there caressing when teeth latched onto his skin, the hard, painful suck of a mouth on the soft skins of his sides. Sora arched toward the silveret, chest beginning to heave, and let out a quiet squeak when Riku bit down on his right side and sucked hard enough to bruise.

The silveret traced his hand down Sora's thigh and led his lips toward the hem of Sora's pants. In the bare candlelight, he could faintly see the small shadows cast by the little bumps raising along Sora's skin, he could gently feel, as he moved up again toward Sora's now bare chest, He felt the skin raise in tiny dots around the brunet's nipples, the way Sora shuddered and sighed quite loudly when Riku began tracing his tongue in circles and skimming his nails along the edges of Sora's body.

Riku shivered as he felt himself hardening, the cloth around his erection snug, but quickly becoming tight. There was need building in his body, and in Sora's too with the way his chest rose and fell with every lick and nip Riku scattered over the tan skin.

He nudged his nose along the crotch of Sora's pants, nuzzling the obvious bulge in the fabric. A small gasp came from the brunet's lips when Riku removed the last of the slighter boy's clothes and grazed Sora's inner thigh with his teeth.

"Th-that tickles," Sora gasped, giggling as his fingers dug into the back of the Riku's shoulders. The silveret smiled and pressed forth, flicking out his tongue to catch the first gleaming drop of precome from Sora's tip, and then sliding his tongue against the slit.

"O-oh God, Riku, Riku, _R-Riku_..."

Sora's hand knotted in his hair. Riku stopped and pulled back, a shining thread of precome connected to his lip, and he tried not to chuckle.

"Sora..." He winced tentatively, ignoring the slight tugging feeling of an insistent hand at his head. "Th-that hurts..."

"O-oh! Sorry! Uhm... Uhm..."

The silveret chuckled and bent down to kiss the inside of Sora's thigh. "Just grab my shoulders if you need to hold on, okay?"

Sora nodded weakly. "Mm-hm—Ah! O-oh, my _god_, Ri-_Riku_!"

In two quick seconds, Riku swallowed Sora until the tip of his erection pressed against the back of the silveret's throat. The musky, heady scent of Sora's skin filled his senses, and he closed his eyes to fully _feel_ the way Sora moved around him, one hand digging nails into his shoulder, the other cupped around the back of his neck.

Oh god, the way he tasted. There was nothing sweet about Sora's taste (or, really, anyone for that matter—that much Riku knew from personal experience. Knew not to expect it), but he didn't taste terrible either. There was simply a clean feeling, simplicity, when Riku's tongue touched Sora's skin. His smoothness and unblemished, nearly hairless body...

"Riku..." the brunet breathed, blushing vividly as his boyfriend tongued his slit. The silveret could feel the way Sora's breath quickened under his hands; the shudders and gasps; the thickness of Sora's precome, a glistening trail to Riku's wet lips; the way the teen's hands fluttered about his abdomen still as Riku's fingers danced along the paler skin, how Riku trailed upward 'til he reached Sora's neck, tongue, teeth, lips, mouth sucking and nipping and biting and licking and scraping and...

In the kitchen, Marluxia kicked back to watch Demyx take care of the drink making.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Spice things up a little. Spike their cider."

Demyx back toward the pink-haired teen and grinned. "I would, but I don't think that Zexion guy would exactly appreciate a room filled with shitfaced teens and gay men hanging off each others' arms."

Marluxia raised a well-plucked eyebrow. "And you know... how?"

"I've got a feel for him, I think," was all Demyx could supply him with. Demyx was good enough with people to tell that Zexion didn't appreciate fucking around like dumbasses.

"By the way, spiking their cider would not get them shitfaced. Loosen their tongues a bit, yes?"

"_Loosen those belts a bit. Woo, man..."_

Demyx ignored the question.

"Has anyone ever told you your voice is way too fucking deep to match your face?"

"Yes," Marluxia sighed. "And that my hair doesn't match my body type."

The pair propped themselves up on the counter and looked past the kitchen column toward the conversing crowd on the sofas. Demyx licked his lips absentmindedly and pulled at the ends of his hair as Marluxia went through each person's clothing, picking out the styles he liked and disliked. It was the only activity the two of them could do together that wouldn't end with drawing blood—something Demyx truly appreciated. Marluxia was a conflict addict; Demyx, suprisingly, enjoyed his quiet. For someone to ruffle Marluxia's feathers without causing him to inflict physical pain or expend mental effort was rare.

"I don't like the way Axel wears his jeans. He's too skinny to be sporting something like that." Pretty, pink, and poisonously critical.

Demyx bumped himself off the counter and rested his elbows atop the smooth granite instead. "Isn't his skinniness the point? Accent what you have."

"Even if it's not so attractive?"

"Even if it's not so attractive," the blond agreed verbatim. "An emphasis on the grotesque has a sort of elegant beauty in and of itself, ya know? Get me some of those mugs, by the way."

Marluxia laughed and acquiesced, reaching above his head blindly and pulling out a series of colorful, nonsensically matching mugs of various sizes. "So Axel's body type is 'grotesque'?"

Demyx scoffed gently and quickly dipped his finger in the boiling water. "He's just got a trait Rox finds attractive—don't even try to ask me what, though. Figure it out yourself." He wiped the water from his finger on to his pant leg. "Hell, I'd take him if he wasn't so into my brother." He stopped to rummage through a few drawers for some packets of hot chocolate.

"Just seems to me like you'll fuck anything pretty enough," Marluxia acknowledged. Even with his back turned, he could hear the grin in Marluxia's voice.

"_Yeah, maybe..."_

The blond shook his head. "Naw, I need something with substance. Someone, I mean."

"Slip of the tongue?" Marluxia teased.

Demyx rolled his eyes. Without wasting another second, he pulled out the packets and tossed them to the table.

"So, Marly-cakes, my boy." Demyx tipped back on his heels and leaned against the counter. He kept his eyes to the floor as he asked, "Are you and Naminé bumpin' uglies yet?"

He looked up to see the plucked pink brow raised again. Demyx was almost sure that Marluxia employed the use of eyebrow wax to maintain that graceful curve.

"Nice segue."

"You were just talking about blondies having sex, weren't you?" Demyx grinned as Marluxia moved his head in a slight bobbing motion of acknowledgment. "So are you?"

Marluxia gazed toward the living room where Naminé was seated next to Roxas, her arms around his neck and her forehead against his shoulder, laughing.

"No. And if we were together like that, I don't think I'd call it 'fucking'."

Demyx tasted the subtext.

"So what about you? You gonna jump that Zexion guy any time soon?"

"Maybe," Demyx replied. He ripped open a chocolate packet and stuck a finger in the cocoa powder. "But I don't think I what I do is called 'jumping'. I've got more grace than that."

"Touché."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Two men lay sweating, surrounded by candlelight and carpet at the foot of the now-cold couch. The smaller, naked one turned over and draped his arms around the back of his boyfriend's neck, running his fingers through the silver hair, pressing their foreheads together so a waterfall of sweat-damp silver drapes brushed his cheeks.

"Love you," Sora whispered. He could feel Riku smile against his cheek.

They paused, the older man's arms frozen against the brunet's back.

"Thank you," the silveret whispered and peppered his lips against every kissable surface. Sora's aftertaste still lingered between his teeth.

"Riku, I—"

"Mm..." Riku hummed contentedly, and pressed forward to kiss Sora again, mouth to mouth, his own silent response to waiting ears.

But when their tongues brushed again so did their chests, and they stayed together until morning.

* * *

The outside scene was peaceful. With snow lining each windowsill and steady, pale orange glows lighting the snow mounds, each vaguely bush-or-trashcan-or-mailbox-or-puppy-shaped lump became uniform in color and attitude. Clean, soft, glistening.

And Demyx had terrible morning breath.

During the night, Zexion shifted from a carefully propped upright position down to an approximate seven degree angle away from the horizontal line of the couch cushions' projected height at maximum puffiness. Apparently, the rest of the couch loungers followed suit during the night, and were now, from order of left to right, a fallen pile of Axel-Roxas-Demyx-Zexion.

The lillac-haired man raised a slender, muscled arm off his collar bone and placed it gently on its owner's mysteriously pants-less lap. Of hairless legs.

Zexion squinted.

No, the hairs were simply fine and blond with evidence of previous maintenance practices. The follicles probably wouldn't be growing back.

He looked toward the other couches to find that the pink-haired metrosexual, petite blonde girl, and Kairi were gone.

Perhaps it was a prejudicial inclination of his to forget the names of blonds. Try as he might, Zexion never quite got over the pretty-but-stupid stereotype society shoved into his head.

He turned toward the television in the living room and saw someone had taken care to shut down the theater system before going to sleep.

Then he noticed the noises coming from the kitchen—giggles and muted artificial clicks and snaps of phone cameras. He looked toward the kitchen, disheveled hair parted over his other eye, and gave the stalking trio a limpid stare.

"Good morning, mister pants-less."

It was only then that he felt the cold air around his legs.

"You guys took my pants," he stated, quite matter-of-factly—which, really, was how Zexion did most things.

Kairi stopped grinning. "You're not panicked?"

"No."

"Weird," Naminé commented.

Zexion stood up, grabbing a pillow in the process to cover his unsightly legs. Though he knew he was a fine-haired man and no one else could really see the faint purple coloring on his legs, the situation still felt uncomfortable.

"Good morning, Legs."

Chills began creeping their way up the skin of Zexion's calves.

"Good morning," he greeted without turning around. No doubt that was Roxas's older brother speaking.

"Nam, you should probably give him his pants." She did as such.

"Naminé! This is not what we agreed on!" The redhead pouted. "Dem, you ruin all my fun!"

"Just doing my job, my fair lady." Demyx Esment rose from the floor and scratched at the drool pool that had formed on his face. How... natural. Elegant. Human.

Zexion extended his arm and raised a palm toward the ceiling to accept his pilfered pants from the Girl in White. When he made no further motion to take the pants from her, Naminé simply draped the clothes across his open arm. Before anyone could have the chance to ogle his legs further, Zexion slipped into his jeans and fastened the button.

From the corner of the kitchen Marluxia coughed gently. Zexion could have sworn the pink-haired metrosexual winked at Demyx.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Helloooo, legs. Never in his life had Demyx seen such shapely male thighs so elegantly hairless. Similar to his own, he noted as he slipped on his returned pair of pants. Though he would've preferred to comfortably free-ball it for the rest of the day, he had a personal standard to maintain.

Contrary to what his disheveled mohawk look might suggest, hair maintenance was of the utmost importance to Demyx. It took effort to get his locks looking perfectly askew. Something about strange colored hair and great, framing hair cuts and general maintenance of where to wax and shave and sometimes even condition mattered. It was a fact of Demyx's life: less leg hair equals more sex appeal.

One would most definitely be safe in assuming that throughout breakfast, Demyx could not help but to steal glances at Zexion's lower half. Apparently, the purplenette (as Demyx deemed all people with that general coloring of hair) enjoyed sitting away from the back of his chair.

"_Riding the edge of that chair, oh..."_

Oh, the sweet, sweet possibilities...

"Turn around and—_yawn_—pay attention already, Dem." Enter groggy, disgruntled Roxas. "You're burning the potatoes on the left side of the pan."

Demyx grunted and turned around to tend to the burning potatoes. "_Better pay attention now. I don't want the first thing I burn in six years to be because of a sweet, sweet ass. Oh man. Those legs. Oh, wow."_

"The things..." he whispered to himself. "_Knees up to his shoulders... oh, roll that neck. Mmm... those shoulders, hot DAMN... Oh, sweet Poseidon, I'm in wantingsexmode."_

He shifted the potatoes around a few more times before letting the entire pile slide out of the pan and onto a community plate. Grogxas took the plate to the kitchen counter bar stools, picking at the edges of the plate with a double dipping finger.

" 'Ey, chefman! Can I get two eggs over easy for me and the Rox?"

Demyx didn't need to turn around to know the voice belonged to fire crotch. "Rox likes them over hard," he called back as he began to crack eggs into the re-oiled pan. "If you know what I mean."

"Dem! Don't lie to him!"

Demyx looked back over his shoulder and cocked an eyebrow. "Wanting your eggs flaccid and listless like a limp sausage, are you?"

"Dem!" Roxas crossed the kitchen and pinched his brother's forearm.

"Ouch, cranky Roxas." Demyx gently flipped the eggs. "Gitchur hand off the merch, Rox. Or it's no food for you."

His brother mumbled something vaguely insulting and dragged his feet back to his seat. From the general direction of the living room, bacon and omelet requests wafted over one by one. Without turning to see who asked for what, Demyx went on autopilot.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"He's moving quite quickly with all that food," Zexion commented.

Axel leaned over toward his friend, his mouth stinking of bacon and bed breath. Zexion wrinkled his nose, feeling a bit nauseous from the smell of meat and Axel stink. He covered his mouth and nose with one hand and pointed to the sink left of where they were sitting. The redhead laughed and crossed over to the kitchen sink.

"Rox says he went to culinary school fresh outta high school." He flicked the faucet on and washed out his mouth with a pool of water cupped in his hands. "He didn't know a thing about cooking, but still graduated with some culinary honors or something."

"Damn right, I did," Demyx supplied, still facing the stove. "I learn quickly and do things well."

Zexion smiled. "How modest of you."

"Why, thank you, Zexion," he joked. " 'Sides, they're there to teach you how to cook. You don't _need_ prior knowledge to go to culinary school."

After finishing up with the last omelet request and washing everything that wasn't too hot to put under water, Demyx joined the three males around the kitchen counter.

"So, Rox, Dad came home last night at, like, two in the morning from an emergency call at the hospital. He wanted to know about the strangers in the house."

Roxas laughed. "Let's get to that later. The question of the hour is has anyone heard from Sora and Riku yet?"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora awoke to the stiff sensation that his neck may or may not be raw and sore to the point of paralysis. But then he realized, were he truly paralyzed, he would not be able to feel these things. He shifted a bit against the body curled around him.

"Mmff... nnn... hhuuuu..."

The sounds sparked a chuckle, so he shifted again, just a bit harder. Maybe this would work.

"Naaa... aaaahhh... mmm..."

"Riku?" He nudged his boyfriend with his shoulder.

The silveret made more cute, sleepy noises and yawned into his hair. The arm draped across his waist—his sore and reddish waist—tightened around him and made him wince. Tender spot, his abdomen.

"Ri..." A painful, throat-stretching yawn interrupted, "Riku, wake up."

"Mm... yes, Dear?"

The brunet chuckled. "You're squeezing me too hard."

He waited for Riku's arms to loosen, but the sensation never came. After a few moments, the man murmured, "That's probably not the only thing I did too hard..."

"Huh?"

Sora tried to turn, but his body felt heavy and stiff. Tender, even, when he walked or shifted the wrong way. There was an awful stiffness in his joints from sleeping in the wrong position, which he attempted to release. But, the moment he touched his neck, that tenderness became a long, strangely satisfying soreness.

"Let's get you into this bathroom here... and, lights, here we go."

Sora noted three things about the image in the bathroom mirror:

1. It looked an awfully lot like Sora, only flipped,

2. It had a fresh glow about its body that had never been there before, and

3. It looked like a strangulation victim.

"Riku... what did you do to my neck?"

The silveret smirked and bent over to press his lips to Sora's cheek. "You liked it yesterday."

The brunet turned around, already blushing so early in the morning, and hid his face from the mirror.

"I can't go home like this."

The couple stood still for a moment, their two pairs of eyes frozen forward.

Repeatedly, Sora thought, _'I'm never going to be able to cover this up.'_

Repeatedly, Riku thought, '_Shit. He's a minor.'_

It would be another hour before anything productive would happen.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Ya know," Axel remarked as he slid his phone shut, "I've never really known Riku to be a late sleeper."

"Mm." Zexion hummed in agreement, still recovering from his depants'd state. He'd been alright with the entire situation until he noticed that taller, blond Esment eying his legs like they were candy. Or roast beef? Or... Well, some other food euphemism for a turn-on.

Of course, he would never consciously admit he was feeling a bit flushed from the look the other man sent his direction. After all, his sexual disposition leaned toward non-existent, so having such a pair of eyes on him should do nothing to affect his being.

In fact, it did nothing. Indeed, nothing was happening. His discomfort came from intrigue. Yes, intrigue over how someone so physically charged such as... Demyx, was it? Demyx, right... No one like Demyx could be interested in someone so intellectually charged as Zexion. Those come-ons (as he had identified in hindsight) at the karaoke place were misplaced. No doubt it was his unusual haircut that attracted and misled the blonde's intentions in the first place.

If anything, he could only faintly expect someone of Roxas Esment's disposition to be interested in his person. As the only person who was perhaps intellectually inclined of the three brothers, even that possibility was a faint, fleeting thought.

And, again, nothing Zexion had just thought could ever be admitted to anyone. Because, clearly, he had never thought these things. He wasn't intrigued by Demyx's continuing interest in him, even when the two were clearly mismatched. There was no way someone of Demyx's kind would ever find this scrawny, pale, hairless, weak, brainy _thing_ so—

Slim, musician's fingers holding a mug of tea were suddenly in his vision. "Hey, Zexion?"

"Yes?" Shit. He hadn't meant to reply so suddenly. Well.

Demyx fished around in his pocket before producing a small, white ring. "You want a mint?"

"What?"

"Oh, hah, nothing..." Demyx smiled and leaned in from across the counter. "I was wondering, would you like to have lunch with me sometime?"

What.

"You. Me. Lunch. WildKat, or somewhere near Molco? Not a date or anything like that. I'd just like to talk to you a bit more,'s all."

"Sure." What.

"Cool. Here's my number, I'll call you sometime? Or, rather," Demyx chuckled. "Maybe I could get your number?"

What.

"I can't call you if only you have my number and not the other way around."

What. Paper and pencil from nowhere. Phone numbers from nowhere. Exchange of information.

"Alright, then, it's a date." The blond winked and turned to the boiling water on the stove. "I'll be looking forward to this."

What. "Sure. Me too."

What.

What.

WHAT.

_WHAT._

_'What just happened?'_

The mint lay innocently on the counter between Zexion's tea and fingers. He pocketed the thing before anyone could notice.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"There, I asked him. Ya happy now, ya pink pompf?"

Marluxia chuckled. "I can't force you to do anything you don't already want to do. Like him."

"Okay, hey," Demyx rolled his eyes and held his hands up defensively. "Just because you know my turn-ons does not mean you gotta make fun of me for them."

"You're the one ogling his thighs, my dearie."

"And you're sexually ambiguous. So there."

Marluxia puckered his lips and made a kissing motion toward Demyx. "You know it, babe."

"Hah. Just shut up and sip your tea, pompf."

Marluxia winked and cupped his hands around the mug of orange blossom tea Demyx handed him. "Of course, _master_."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Sora could only sigh in relief as he stepped onto the Twilight Town platform. Nowhere along the line had he run into Zexion or Axel, which was a gift from the gods if anything. He almost had what he guessed could have been his first ever panic attack when Riku got a text at Sunshine Station saying Axel and Zexion were about to get off at the exact same place at the _exact. Same. Time._

"Freakin' timing," Sora muttered under his breath. His stomach growled in agreement. Ohh... and he hadn't even had the chance to eat anything before he left Riku's.

They were too busy blending the silveret's stage makeup and... surprising selection of personal, every-day makeup... to fit Sora's exact skintone.

_"If you get this wet, don't scrub it. This stuff is sweat resistant, but easy to rub off with soap and water, so you can probably keep it on for a day. Keep this pot and brush so you can reapply it after you shower tomorrow, okay?"_

_"Yeah, I think I got it... I can't believe this. You're kind of a beast when it comes to make up, you know."_

_"Yeah, I kind of am, aren't I? Sorry my talents aren't manly enough for you."_

_"Hey, I never said I didn't like it."_

Sora shook his head to clear his thoughts. If he kept on like this, he was going to get one twisty-ass lamp pole in the face.

A few blocks later, Sora arrived at the Destiny Islands apartment complex and sighed in relief. Now he was in a safe zo-

"Oh, hey there, Sora!"

Kairi. She'd spotted him. Oh shit.

"H-hey there!"

He waved, hoping the smile on his face didn't betray his current feeling of being extremely exposed. Even though he knew—with mirror verification—that his bruised neck was covered by a strong blend of high-end foundation and concealer, he still felt like he was naked, walking down the street in a single layer of saran wrap. Or a clear latex body suit. Or just plain naked.

Like someone clicked and dragged his bottom right corner or pressed magnify on his neck and shoulders and back and-

"Sora, are you okay? Don't... tell me you're traumatized from staying the night at Axel's?"

"N-no, that's not it. I just didn't expect to see you at the gate."

"Well, Riku texted Axel and said you were heading over, so I came out here to let you in. Rox has your key card, so there's no way you'd be getting in on your own, ya know?"

"… Did you just 'ya know' me? And Axel is still here?"

"Yeah and yeah. He's staying to hang with us today. He didn't have work or something. Or... yeah. Whatever, ya know?"

_"So he lied about going home. Oh gods, I hope I don't get interrogated or something..."_

"Damn, Kai... I'm gone for, like, a day, and already you're picking up someone else's talking habits."

"Hey, you're the one who was gone, so don't complain!"

Sora laughed and came forward to hug his best friend. "Fine, fine. You win."

He felt Kairi rest her head against his right shoulder and her breath against his neck. He tried not to wince as her head rolled against a bruise just above his collarbone.

He also tried not to wince when she asked, "Sora, where did the mole right under your hairline go?"

… Oh shit.

"I didn't know I had a mole there. Are you sure you're not just crazy?"

Kairi lifted her head away from Sora's neck. "Babe, sweetie, honey... Don't lie to me. I've hugged you enough times to know that this mole isn't made of magical fairy dust, puppy tails, and unicorn droppings. Where the fuck did you put the mole that's supposed to be on your neck?"

"Uhh..."

"The mole." She crossed her arms, suspicions rising.

"Well, I, uhh..."

"You, 'uhh...' what, Sora?"

"… Want to talk about this later? Please, Kai?"

The pleading in his eyes and voice must've gotten to her, because soon he had Kairi agreeing to let him inside.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just get inside already. The snow out here's basically slush anyway, ya know?"

"Thanks, Kai."

Sora grinned gratefully when Kairi pulled out her key card from her pocket and swiped it through the gate's reader. The pair meandered through the snow-covered playground equipment. One set of footsteps led toward the gate, which Kairi and Sora both took care to step within on their way back. With the rest of the white world turning to wet slush, preserving the park just seemed...

_"… like preservation? Sora, you're so smart!"_

He facepalmed where Kairi couldn't see. _"I hope to the gods people stop touching me today. I swear, it's like they're doing it on purpose. It's like they know._

_"But maybe I just haven't noticed 'til just now how often people touch me._

_"Or they're just suspicious of me. They might know._

_"Maybe I'm just acting weird now. I should stop doing that if I am._

_"Okay, I have to stop acting weird now, then._

_"But I'm talking to myself in my head..._

_"We're fucked._

_"I mean, I'm fucked. I'M fucked."_

By the time Sora pulled himself out of his mental dialogue, he was standing at the open doors of the elevator looking into his house. His house where Axel and Roxas were climbing all over each other, trying to block each other's views of the TV screen. Behind them, Naminé threw her controller toward Marluxia and pouted. Someone was being a sore loser. To his right, in the kitchen, he spotted his father doing the dishes barehanded.

"Cute, right?" Kairi commented, taking Sora's hand into her own. "Let's try to sneak past 'em—"

" 'Ey, Sora! Welcome back, man. How was your night with my man Riku?"

Kairi smiled sheepishly, "Well, never mind then." She gave Sora's hand a small squeeze and left to go occupy a seat on the couch with her sister.

Axel kept his teardrop tattooed cheekbones turned toward the TV screen, on which a feminine figure screamed and dropped her staff.

"Oh, take it in the FACE, Nam! Smack you right in th—Hey!" Axel turned around and glared as a blade wielding man was struck dead with lightning. "Totally unexpected, man. And isn't switching controllers cheating?"

"She has a mock death revival move you have to watch out for," Marluxia shrugged, his eyes glued to the screen. "And I didn't think you were the sore losing type, Axel. Nam, can you get me more tea?"

"Yeah, sure."

Naminé rose from the couch and passed in front of Sora. "Nice to see you back here and alive," she greeted. "You want some tea?"

"Yeah, sure," Sora agreed, and followed her to the kitchen. The air smelled soapy and felt relaxing. Sora always did enjoy his time in the kitchen, something which everyone in the family, except Roxas, seemed to share.

"Hey, lil' chocohead," his father greeted when he crossed the kitchen tile threshold. "How's the runt o' the pack doing?"

As far as doctors went, Aeron Esment was a bit more absentminded than the average doctor. For instance, he would often lift his hand out of the dish water to noogie one of his sons. A sudsy noogie could beat out a dry-knuckled noogie any day. The thought of soap water dripping down his neck and behind his ears was enough to make him shudder.

But, instead of the expected noogie, a large, male hand smacked down on his right shoulder. Right on the bruise.

A large, male hand that belonged to his _father_. Was resting on his shoulder. Right on the bruise.

A large, male hand resting on his shoulder squeezed reassuringly, painfully. His shoulder throbbed. Right on the bruise.

A large, male hand covered in soap suds rubbed off a bit of the concealer. Right on the bruise.

This time, Sora openly winced.

"Good to see you back from your electrical outage crisis, Sora." Aeron Esment ruffled his son's hair, ignoring the wince, and made his way toward his bedroom. "Now that you're home, can you wake me up when Demyx comes back from grocery shopping and finishes lunch?"

"Sure thing, dad."

Aeron Esment looked down toward his only brunet son and stopped in his tracks.

"Something wrong?"

"Sora..." Aeron Esment began in a warning tone, "Do I want to know what that hickey is doing on your neck?"

* * *

An alternate chapter title: "The Tale of the Vanishing Mole: A recounting of tiny proportions."

_Bisous, Minikimii_


	11. A Learning Process

**Note that the version on my Tumblr is not the same as the one here. This has been edited, and that is the roughest of the original drafts.**

And if you have no idea what I'm refering to: I'm on tumblr now under "JamMoritarty." Go to my profile for the link, and follow for early releases and teaser snippets. And, yes, if any of you are in the Sherlock fandom there and visit the livestream... I am the same Jam. :P

EDIT: I know it's been so long since I've updated, so I added **a little summary for you so you don't have to go back and read stuff:  
**

Last chapter ended with Sora coming back home the morning after he and Riku had a steamy (pfft. Hah. Lulz. Like I could write that well...) night alone while the "trains were down". He'd been wearing a blend of stage and everyday makeup to hide the marks Riku left on his neck. It was working pretty well until his dad-happy to see his son come home safely-lopped a hand covered in dishwater on Sora's shoudler and squeezed. He rubbed off the make up a bit. Now he's pissed.

Sorry for the terribly long wait, and please enjoy~!

* * *

**Call Me**  
A Learning Process

Aeron Esment was on fire.

And if it didn't turn literal in the next few minutes, he was going to set someone _on_ fire. A few blocks away, Riku felt a chill and flinched.

"Sora, tell me right now: Did. You. Use. Protection?"

The doctor picked up a towel hanging off the edge of the countertop and wiped the soapy water and smudged makeup from his hands. ScaryDad was advancing.

"Uhh..." Sora's eyes flitted about from person to person nervously, hoping at least someone would have the decency to rescue him.

"Sora."

"Uhm..."

He looked to the couches for help and found that everyone had moved. They were all making an escape toward the front door. Indecent bastards. They'd even dropped their controllers and left the TV running.

"_Sora_..."

_That was the warning tone. Oh, no. Quick, say something! Say something, you idiot! Speak!_

"D-dad, we didn't have se... a... we didn't make... umm..."

Aeron crossed his arms, blocking Sora's exit from the kitchen.

"Sora, if you can't say it aloud, you aren't ready for it. I'd better not find out you did something you weren't ready for."

"Uhh..."

"Sora!"

_Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..._

"Sora, you'd better not tell me you've gotten some girl pregnant, because you, young man, are not nearly old enough to be able to handle a child! Do you know how much responsibility that takes? How much _time_ and how little _sleep_ you're going to get?"

_Akjhaskud! System overload! System overload! Emergency shut down! Beep Beep Beep! Oh my GOD!_

"And if she does get pregnant, you bet your ass you're going to be there for her! No son of mine is going to knock someone up and going to just _leave_ the poor girl there to raise the kid all by herself! I thought I taught you kids better morals than that! I know I'm not always here to set a good example, but you have to understand that all those hours at the hospital have been to make a living enough for you and Roxas and Demyx and your mother to have the right kind of safe shelter with food and running water to grow up in. I did not put in all that time to raise a grandchild before my last sons have gone to university! I did _not_ do all this so that you could go out and think—"

"Dad, I'm gay!"

From the corner of his eye, he saw Axel push his twin back onto the couch and make a mad dash for the exit. Even though every spiky hair on his head now stood on end without the aid of hair wax, at least Roxas wasn't getting away.

"And we didn't have... se... a '_connection_,' okay? G-guys can't get pregnant."

"So..." Aeron Esment coughed and was suddenly an almost artificial shade of red. He began wringing the towel in his hands, almost ripping the fragile thing in half. "You're gay."

"Y-yes."

The sound of the front door slamming would be Axel fleeing the premises.

"You didn't... you didn't pick this up from your older brother, did you?"

"Demyx? Yeah—wait, I mean no! I didn't pick it up from him. And he's pansexual anyway, so—"

"No, I already know about Demyx. And, Roxas." Sora could almost hear the gulp sound from the blond's throat when Aeron turned around, stopping his youngest son mid-retreat. "You. I thought we were closer than that."

"Dad, I can't just come out of—"

"You knew and you didn't tell me."

"Oh. Um. N-no, I di—!"

Aeron beckoned for his son to come closer, and like a good little boy, Roxas reacted accordingly.

"Don't try to play off that sneaking away as innocent: you knew."

"… Yes, I knew." Roxas cowered behind the low back of a nearby recliner.

Sora could still hear the sigh of relief escaping his twin's lips. He could practically feel his twin praying that he wouldn't have to come out to their father in this way. But, with the way this conversation was going, it would be inevitable.

The doctor sighed, padded over to the dining room table, and pulled out three chairs.

"Boys, come sit," he ordered the three Esment brothers. "Looks like I'm going to have to give you boys a new version of the sex talk. Even you, Roxas. As a straight man with two gay brothers, you should know the intricacies of how their sex lives work. You can be a vigilant warning for Sora."

"Dad!" Sora yelled. "It's not like I'm going to go around hooking up with random guys I meet off the street!"

_'Though, I kind of did. But! We met by Hachiko and all that, so Riku wasn't completely random. But we didn't really 'hook up.' Actually, what does hooking up even __**mean**__?'_

"Oh, God..." Roxas whined, like he could see Sora's thoughts right through his eyes. "We're screwed. We're so screwed..."

"I know more than you do." Demyx chuckled at their father, ignoring the twins' moment of panic. "I could teach them."

"Eww! Dem, that's seriously... No."

"Seriously creepy. Don't ever—oh, eww. Mental images!"

"Sora! Roxas! Shut up and don't argue with me. Demyx, you be quiet too. Now, come here and sit down like good kids."

The brothers obeyed and took their seats. Sora made a point to sit in the chair closest to the hallway, to escape. If he was fast enough, their towering father at the end of the table, hands splayed flat against the light-colored wood as he propped himself up to be taller than all the sitting munchkins, wouldn't be able to catch him.

"How many of you remember how to put on a condom?"

Demyx raised his hand quickly and straight into the air.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Aeron's left eye twitched.

As Sora watched his older brother sitting there grinning like he was asking for candy, he couldn't help but want to slither away and melt into a puddle of goop on the floor. Sora felt like an overripe tomato baking in the sun that was just about to burst and spill its guts all over the hardwood floor.

"G-good. Now, do you two know how to put on a condom? Anyone?"

"Yes, dad, I know how to put one on! Oh my _GOD..._"

"Good," Aeron nodded and continued. "It would kill you to see the statistics we gather at the hospital. Full of teenage pregnancies..."

"Father, he's gay," Roxas muttered from his headdesk position against the table.

"Flaming boylovers, here, Dad!" Demyx chuckled.

"Oh. Right, yes, of course." The brunet doctor paused before continuing, "You know you should still be using one for gay—or, uhh—homosexual encounters, right? There is a lot of bacteria in the anu—"

"YES, DAD, WE KNOW!"

"Sora, son, I just don't want you to live with an STD. Oh, and don't go experimenting with strange objects, alright? I could show you so many pictures and tell you so many horror stories... Once, I had to assist with pulling a Maglite out of a man's—"

"DAD!"

"Father, I think Sora understands," Roxas said, head still against the tabletop. "I think we _all_ understand."

"Good," Aeron smiled and laughed insecurely. "I always thought you would end up with that Kairi Panettiere girl. I could've bet that Roxas would be the gay one..."

The three brothers choked simultaneously.

"Wait. You're not all... Are you?"

"Dad, we—"

"Well, I kind of got the whole hair and musician thing with Dem, but you boys always brought so many girls home I just assumed—no. No, that makes sense. You two were always playing with girls, so—"

"Dad. Seriously, can you stop?" Roxas sighed, standing up to leave. He was being a hell of a lot gutsier than Sora could ever hope to be in a situation like this.

"No, wait. Just a moment here. How long have you known?"

"Since I was eight." Roxas.

"Last week." Sora.

"Sophomore year in high school." Demyx. Simultaneously.

Aeron blinked, eyes bewildered and mouth slack.

"So... definitely gay, all of you?"

"Yeah."

"I guess."

"I like women too."

"… And you all know how to use protection right?"

"Dad!" Sora finally yelled, fists quivering. "We get it: Buttsex gives you STDs. Now can I go take a shower?"

"Yes, Sora. I understand. I mean, I'm trying to help you understand—No, wait. No, I'm going to try to understand as best I can," he amended quickly. "J-just go ahead. I'll stay here and talk to your brothers."

Sora turned to see a death glare bouncing off Roxas's corneas. He whispered a quick "I'm sorry!" before scuttling away toward the bathroom.

From behind came the sound of a very disgruntled Roxas getting up from the dining room table and padding over to the living room to settle into the corner of the L-shaped couch.

"Sorry," he whispered again, pretending Roxas could hear him, "but the whole neck thing is just too urgent."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"All of my sons are gay," was the first thing Aeron said once Sora had left the room. "Your mother's immune system must be amazing..."

"Pansexual, dad, not gay," Demyx corrected. Again.

Aeron sighed. "Yes, Demyx, pansexual." He folded his hands in front of him and looked to the wood grain. "Tell me, boys, do you know who it is that has taken such an interest in Sora?"

"Yes," the brothers answered simultaneously.

Their father's eyes traced upward to meet his sons' gazes. "I want a straightforward answer from the both of you: What's his name? Is he a good guy? How did they meet? And, finally, how old is he?"

Demyx shrugged supplying, "All I know is that Riku's a decent guy."

"And you, Roxas. Do you have anything to say?"

The blond looked down toward his hands and muttered, "They first met a long time ago, but didn't meet again, officially, until a couple months ago. And his name is Riku Gallagher and he's—"

A pruny, dish-water soaked hand reached out and stopped Roxas mid-sentence.

"Riku?" Aeron asked. "Riku... Gallagher? As in that law firm, Gallagher & Rosenberg?"

"I think so."

Aeron suddenly scowled, pressing his closed fists against his lips. "You have no idea who this guy is, do you? His family used to live in this complex and moved away eight years ago when the boy started high school." He turned to Roxas and sighed. "He's in grad school now, I bet. Probably twenty-two or twenty-three—Does Sora know how old he is? I'd better tell him myself! I won't have him being taken advantage of by an adult at Riku's age!"

"Dad," Demyx intervened as his father began to stand up, "I think you traumatized him enough for today, don't you? I know the age difference seems large—and really, it is—but I've spent some time with Riku Gallagher and he's a respectful man. I'm sure he would never pressure Sora do to anything he felt was inappropriate or Sora didn't think he was ready for." He stood up and made for the door. "Now, you calm down, go take a nap or read a book or something while I go buy ingredients for lunch. I'll come get you when it's all done. We've had enough drama for today."

And with that final note, Demyx stepped out of the apartment, leaving Roxas to face his dad by himself.

"That Demyx," the doctor sighed as his oldest son shut the front door with a flip of his foot, "he was always the mouthy one of you three."

"Then what was I?"

" 'Was'?" Aeron laughed. "I thought you were the quiet one. Still are, actually. Sora was the bubbly one."

"And mom?"

"Your mother always called Sora the 'little sweetheart' of the family and you the 'little heartbreaker'. Demyx was 'that little shit'." Aeron chuckled and looked out the large glass window that curled around the hole in the middle of the apartment complex. The reminiscing only lasted so long before a hardness set back over his features. "And you, Roxas. Do you think this Riku man is safe?"

The blond nodded.

"Then, for now, I will leave Sora alone, but if he ever—ever—expresses any kind of worry about his safety or _any_thing, you come straight to me and tell me where this Riku man lives, understand?"

"I understand."

Aeron nodded and resumed his sitting position. "Do you know if Sora is planning on spending New Year's Eve with him?"

"Actually," Roxas replied, "we were all going to spend it together in a big group. Me, So, Dem, Axel, Riku, Zexion, Naminé, Kairi, and Marly."

"In a group... that's good. Now, I want to meet this Riku come New Year's Eve, alright? You tell Sora that for me."

Roxas rose from his seat and went to the kitchen. "Alright. Now go take a nap and I'll finish the dishes."

Aeron nodded and headed toward his bedroom, leaving Roxas alone.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

As he was washing the Riku smell out of his hair, a feeling of great hollowness, like a chasm through his sternum, suddenly shot through his body. Mixed with the falling stream of water in the shower, three hidden tears leaked from the corners of Sora's eyes. He braced himself against the wall of the shower and staggered over to the marble bench on the far end of the shower and curled up into a ball.

This wasn't the way he wanted to come home. He wanted to just get inside, go in his room, and get into bed. He wanted to be able to think about what he'd done with Riku and not feel so _guilty_ so suddenly. So guilty that he had done these things in a relationship where they hadn't even proclaimed their love for each other. And at the same time, he'd never wanted that "love you" to slip out last night.

But who was he kidding? Sora was the baby of the family, even if he was older than Roxas by a few minutes. He never wanted to acknowledge this, never wanted to truly _know_ this, but... Maybe his dad was right. Maybe he wasn't really ready for physical intimacy.

But it had already happened. And it felt alright—even really good—while it was happening, but afterward. Not while he lay on the couch with Riku curled around him, but when he woke up the next morning, there was a fissure in his sense of self. And now, now that fissure was...

"Pull yourself together, So. Pull it together."

He rose from his hunched position, rinsed out his hair, and pumped conditioner into his hands. He combed the creamy liquid into his hair and then resumed his sitting position. Using his foot, he reached over and picked a loofah up from the floor.

"C'mon, So. It's not like you actually had sex."

But he'd said "love you" in his delirium and gotten a "thank you" in return.

So as he let the conditioner set into his hair, Sora began working on genty scrubbing off the remaining quantities of makeup still clinging to his well-worked, sore, love-bitten skin.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The moment his father disappeared into the bedroom, Roxas rushed toward the front door. Upon opening it, he found that only Axel and Kairi—who had basically appeared from nowhere—were waiting.

"I'll just slip on in here..."

Kairi ducked around the pair and settled on the couch inside, closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry about that."

Axel pulled the small blond close for a hug. "At least your dad already had one son who likes boys. I mean, they're on good terms, so I kind of figured he'd be accepting. And you and Sora came out at the same time—maybe a bit unwillingly, but still."

Roxas pulled away quickly.

"Actually, I meant about having to hear my dad freak out over Riku like that."

"Rox, he's just trying to watch out for you." Axel ruffled the boy's hair, but Roxas swatted the hand away.

"But where was he leading up to with this? He's never shown this much worry over us before!" _Doesn't that at least make you worry a little bit about yourself?_

"That's probably because you and Sora are private people. And, if anything I've heard from Joshua is correct, I've known you for a little while now and I still wasn't sure if you even liked men until I really saw for myself."

"What do you mean? Didn't Sora tell you 'my brother wants to go on a date with you' during that phone call?"

"I thought it was brothers messing around." Axel chuckled. "Let's just say you slip under most peoples' gaydars, even with the extra help. You're a freakin' fighterjet, Rox."

Roxas was silent for a moment before stepping forward and pressing a quick kiss to Axel's cheek.

"What was that for?" asked a stunned redhead.

Roxas smiled. "For making me feel better."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"So Riku leaves Sora looking like a strangulation victim," was the first thing Sora heard as he stepped out of the shower.

He would've spun around quickly to see his observer had it not been for the fact that he was dripping wet and naked. Instead, he spun around quickly to find that his brown bathroom towel was gone from its usual hanging place. Slowly, he turned and his eyes caught the reflection of a chuckling redheaded girl holding a towel in the mirror.

"Kairi, how the hell did you get back in here?"

A shrug. "Roxas let me in when the yelling stopped."

"To my bathroom?" he shrieked. "Wait, you didn't hear me singing any of that, uhh Melodious Nocturne stuff, did you?"

The redhead giggled and pushed Sora's towel against his genitals. The brunet snatched the towel away from his friend and brought it to his hair first, scrubbing like he would force the embarrassment in his face out through his hair roots.

"Like I'll do anything to you, Sora," she laughed. "Anyway, about your noose-y little neck here..."

He watched her eyes trail over his collarbone and flick over to the scratches on his thighs.

He winced and covered his body with the towel. "I... I wouldn't call it _that_, but..."

"Sora."

Roxas glared at his neck from the now-open door. Sora cursed himself for not locking the thing more often. This was like a family meeting in his bathroom. A terribly naked, in-no-way-erotic family meeting.

"You look like someone took an octopus and let it strangle you half to death."

Sora winced. Kairi and Roxas were right. His body had been thoroughly scandalized.

"L-look, guys. I don't—Just close the door before someone like Demy or Dad comes in here!"

"Demy went out to buy lunch ingredients. Oh, also, Dad told me to tell you that he wants to meet Riku on New Year's Eve."

"Okay, okay! Sure, whatever! Just close the door, dammit!"

Roxas did as he was told and closed the door, but not before stepping outside.

"I'll give you two lovebirds your privacy now. Kairi, I expect a full analytical report when I return."

"Yessir!" She saluted him through the door. "Now, do you have anything to cover that up?" she asked as she nodded toward the mirror.

Finally, for the first time since he'd stepped out of the shower, Sora got to see the damage done to the skin of his upper body.

Beautifully purple (and at some points, green) bruises gathered at his pulse points like a discolored, melted giraffe had been painted on the skin just under his jaw. The marks grew less clustered as his eyes trailed down his body and resigned to a slow fading out in both intensity and frequency at his hipbones. Tentatively, Sora raised a finger to his neck and pressed down.

He flinched before his fingers even met skin.

"I didn't see those earlier," Kairi commented from her new position on the toilet lid.

"How can you sit on that?"

"When it's closed, it's a chair. Now, anyway, I didn't see those when you came back. What are you going to do about them?"

Sora secured the fluffy brown towel around his waist and bent over to his discarded pants. From the pocket of his jeans, Sora pulled out a small tub of cream colored to his skin tone.

"Riku gave me this."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "He gave you make-up, Sora. Are you sure he's a man?"

"Kai, shut up! He matched my skin tone and told me to put it on with a sponge or my fingers or something."

"Sora, Sora," she chided. "I'm sure he said a brush. Always use a liquid foundation brush or sponge. You're lucky I have my make-up bag wi—"

The brunet took a brush from one of the drawers under the sink and fingered the bristles lightly before dabbing it against the liquid on the back of his hand like Riku had shown him.

"No, no, it's okay. I remember now. He gave me one of his extras."

"Sora, you're dating a primadonna," she laughed. "And—Oi! Hey. Woah. You're doing it wrong. Let me do that for you before your dad thinks you contracted a skin disease from him or something."

She snatched the brush from his hand and started working on the job herself.

"Or something," Sora mocked as he watched he apply the make-up.

The pair stood in silence in the damp bathroom air until she was done, and when she finished, Sora leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Kai."

"Anytime, Princess."

* * *

The street outside had the dirty-snow-parted-for-ungrateful-pedestrains look again. Through the sheen of his liliac hair, Zexion surveyed the people stopped at the corner of the intersection next to the WildKat.

A woman with a scuffed up briefcase and Pegaso boots from two winters ago was sipping either coffee or tea from an unmarked white cup. Probably one of those fakes that was reusable, judging by the way her pinky finger wasn't poised along the bottom of the cup. No subconscious fear of the bottom spilling out. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun, despite it being quite cold, and the rather flimsy collar of her otherwise fit Dragon Couture jacket was flapping about uselessly around a long, off-white Pegaso scarf wound around her neck. Again, a style from two years ago.

_Used to be wealthy, now living on a tighter budget, can't imagine herself wearing anything that isn't designer, so she simply recycles clothes season by season. Probably a family history of business, and is a student with an internship based on age and the hand-me-down briefcase. Trips often, since her boot toes are more scuffed up than they should be for two years of use._

Beside him, sitting on the ground, was a man who looked to be in his forties with a beanie pulled halfway down his dirt-marked face. His fingers peeked out through the finger holes of his ratty gloves and were wrapped around an old coffee can. He smiled at people who stopped to drop spare change in his bucket, revealing a set of oddly straight, yet dirty teeth. Upon closer inspection, the dirt under his fingernails looked thinner, more like mud. The pads of his fingers were smoother and fairer than they should be. His shoes were mud-streaked, but the bottoms were surprisingly bumpy and rugged. Minimal wear showed at the usual points, the ball of the foot and the edges around the heel. Although the grime on the shoes was a solid black in some areas, the edges of the cloth pieces that weren't hidden by the shoe's stitching were smooth. Not enough fibers or spare threads poked out from the sides. A second look showed the man's wrist bones weren't quite fused together enough for him to be a middle-aged man.

Taking out a sheet of paper from his notebook, Zexion scrawled down a message and knocked against the window. The man turned from where he was leaning against the brick outside of the coffee shop to read the small print. Zexion watched his eyes scroll over the two lines. After a moment, he could see the man had blanched, even under the dirt and grime on his face. Soon, the man had packed up his tin cans and cardboard sign to head to another intersection.

Satisfied, Zexion looked up to see Demyx standing next to where the man had been, giving Zexion a peculiar, testing gaze. The lilac-haired man shrugged and pointed toward the door.

"Yo." Demyx did that head nod thing Zexion hated as soon as he entered the coffee shop.

"Yo, yourself," he replied with a slight grimace as his acquaintance sat down.

There wasn't even a justifiable reason for why he responded. Simply put, this man was infectious. Zexion wasn't sure whether or not he liked that. In fact, Zexion wasn't even sure why he'd agreed to this in the first place.

"I'm glad I still know the way here." Demyx laughed as he sat down. "WildKat, how I've missed you."

"You've been here before?" Zexion asked.

"Yup. It was my hang out all through high school, hobos and all. But it looks like things have changed now, with you driving them away and all that."

Zexion's jaw tightened. That wasn't what he'd been doing.

"So what did you mean by, 'I know what you're doing, so I suggest you relocate before I remove you myself'?"

Zexion sighed, pressing his hands to his tired eyes. Observing that closely always wore him out.

"The markers were all there. He wasn't who he said he was."

"Oh?" Demyx's tone changed, interest piqued.

"Yes," Zexion explained. "His hands were far too fine, his teeth were too straight, chocolate-stained to make them look dirty. His shoes were simply dipped in muddy water and covered in dirt and leather shiner to look greasy and worn. You could see from his shoes mostly that they weren't the shoes he actually normally wore or walked in. In fact, they hadn't been walked in for more than, oh, twenty miles. The stitching and the cloth of his jacket and gloves weren't frayed enough at the edges, so the signs of the usual wear and tear of clothes belonging a man of his supposed condition weren't present. That added with his wrist bones and posture, everything seemed off. My best guess: he is an actor making his money on the Shibuya streets playing the part of the beggar."

"Anything else?" Demyx asked, eyes sparkling.

"That, and when he stood up, he broke character and stood like a dancer. Probably in his mid twenties, not much older than you or me."

The blond fell silent at the table across from him for a while, staring at his hands.

"I think I'm going to leave my guitar here, go get a hot corn chowder and cappuccino, and then come back. I have a game we can play."

_He wants me to analyze everyone in this coffee shop. How banal._

Through a reflection in the window, Zexion watched the blond order his food and drink. He kept his wallet in his right front pocket like a street-wise inhabitant of Atlantica should. Money clip was separate, in his left front pocket, but sat in the same pocket as his phone. That was bound to produce scratches.

Eyes extremely sore now, Zexion lay his head back and sank into his favorite chair. There was no reason to be watching the blond so closely when he was already friends (of a sort) with his brother, Roxas. There was a striking resemblance between the two already: straight nose, fluffy hair smothered in gel, the cupid's bow on both their lips, the shapes of their eyes. But where Roxas's jawline was defined, it wasn't nearly as angular as Demyx's. Where Roxas's chin rounded off slightly to a droopy U, Demyx's chin met a softened point. Where Roxas's cheekbones were high and round, Demyx's were high, chiseled, nearly had a line where the lights and shadows flirted but never mixed.

Where Roxas was soft and youthful, Demyx was all lines and fast-paced. One was brush strokes, the other was vectors.

And, in his pursuit of the study of people, Zexion had just stumbled across his next adventure of observation: brothers. How do two objectively good looking people growing up in the same household environment turn out so differently?

He'd already felt the tips and curves of the oil painting that was Roxas; it was time to experience the marble sculpture that was Demyx Esment.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Nicotine patches. There was the store brand or the one he'd seen on TV last night. Skin-colored, clear, round, square, strong, medium, low. Twenty-four hour, sixteen hour... Side effects: dizziness, drowsiness, headache, irritability, mild hallucinations, depression. Apply to a non-hairy part of the body.

Nicotine gum. Pieces per day, 2-mg, 4-mg. Side effects: mouth ulcers, jaw muscle aches, dizziness, headache, nausea, gum disease, hiccups, throat constrictions. No eating or drinking fifteen minutes before and during chewing of nicotine gum. Chew the gum until your feel it tingle or it tastes peppery, then settle it between cheek and gums. Chew again once it stops tingling and set it somewhere new.

"Hallucinations over choking, thank you very much."

This would be worth it.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

From overhead, the soft, familiar sound of the ukelele played and Demyx hummed along with his own voice come through the speakers of the WildKat, occasionally singing a few of the lines as he waited for his coffee and soup order. A woman standing behind him in line leaned forward and tapped his shoulder.

"Has anyone ever told you that you sound like the Melodious Nocturne?"

"Why, no." Demyx's lips twitched into a tiny smile; it was a wonder he didn't burst out laughing. "But thank you."

The woman returned the smile and left Demyx's personal space. He was going to have to be more careful if he wanted to keep up the facade of naivete. Perhaps he should have rethought the design of his new album's cover before releasing it three weeks ago. Because, if anyone were to catch a glimpse of the back of his neck, they would see the now-signature tattoo of three small, black stars arranged in a right-handed check mark pattern. And he'd probably have to be more careful at pools too, because the same star blown up about three hundred percent bigger sat placidly adjacent to the apex of his thighs, climbing toward his right hip.

"Number six, your order is ready!"

"Thanks," he called to the boy as he returned to his seat in front of Zexion.

"So you said you wanted to play a game?"

"Yes." Demyx sighed happily as he settled down. "I think that once I finish my soup we should go out on the street and people-watch. We take turns guessing things about the quiet, plain ones and then we follow them to see if we're right."

_He sure is cute when he's got that deadpan expression on his face._

Zexion smirked suddenly, pressing his hands together and propping his elbows up on the small table.

"I've seen that expression before; you find me attractive."

Demyx nearly choked on his chowder. Zexion nonchalantly held up a napkin and waited, smirk still tickling his lips as he watched Demyx cough into the napkin.

"True: I find you very pleasing to the eye," he agreed. "And, to be honest, I'm hoping this goes somewhere, but for now I'm basically just here talking to you; no expectations." Demyx's voice had gone slightly hoarse, and he cringed. Time to do a few vocal exercises once he got outside, or this could be bad.

"Interesting," his 'date' murmured.

"So how could you possibly tell? It not like we've known each other for very long."

Zexion shrugged, grin disappearing. "There are universal markers. And it's the same look Roxas gets when he looks at Axel."

"Fair enough." Demyx laughed, coughed a bit, and then sipped more of his soup.

Zexion settled back into his seat and turned a head to the window outside. Even from where he was arched over his food, Demyx could see the purple-haired man's eyes flickering back to him every once in a while through the reflection of the WildKat's storefront window.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Riku held the convenience store receipt, pointing to the bottom. "Axel, you spent almost thirty dollars on this."

"I know."

"The WildKat doesn't pay that well. And I know you don't like borrowing from your mom or Zexion, so now you don't have a food budget for the next few weeks."

Axel turned from his nightstand to Riku who was situated on his bed.

"Look higher up. I'm quitting smoking. My old cigarette fees should pay for a few dinners. Besides, I know you guys won't let me go hungry. I'll eat leftovers in the fridge."

"Oh." A slow grin spread across the silveret's face. "I think this Roxas kid is good for you."

Axel smirked in return. "Like how Sora is good for you?"

With a groan, his roommate fell back onto the bed. "Actually, I'm not so sure of that."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"I want to try guessing something about you."

Zexion's ears perked the moment Demyx began speaking. That was a new experience.

"Try."

"I think you used to play the piano and the violin. I also think that you grew up well-off. Or, um, at least enough to know what kinds of high end hair shampoos and conditioners work with your hair type."

Zexion blinked a little and he turned from the window to face his companion.

"Explain yourself."

"I've only ever seen pianists tap their fingers back and forth like you do. And you have years of knots in your neck built up from holding your head a certain way to support a violin. The hair thing was more of a guess, because I had a friend in high school who had a friend with hair like yours and he told me that he had problems with cheap shampoo making his hair look really flat and kind of greasy. I think only the Angel Star brand worked."

_A friend with a friend... what musician friend could I have possibly ha—Oh._

"Wait," Zexion commanded. "Repeat that last part about the friend with a friend."

"I had a friend who had a friend who had hair like yours?"

"Was his name Braig?"

"Yes... Wait, you knew Braig?"

Zexion sat back and pressed his hands to his eyes.

"Yes, I tutored him in Calculus my sophomore year as a favor between parents. He was smart, but quite lazy. It was more like babysitting him so he would do his homework."

"Damn," Demyx laughed. "And here I was thinking I was so smart. Man, I guess that last one doesn't count then if I already heard about you from someone else. How did you even make the connection?"

Zexion smiled and fingered one of longer locks of his hair.

"This color is a genetic mutation that tends to run in my father's side of the family. My hair's tinted purple because my mother's hair is black and has a bit of a darker, blueish sheen to it. My father has hair tinted pink because his mother had bright red hair."

"So you are part albino?"

Zexion smirked. "No, men in my gene pool tend to go prematurely gray in a washed-out-but-not-completely-gone way."

The purple-haired man looked up past the lock of hair he was staring at and focused his eyes to his companion's face. The last spoonful of chowder hovered between the green WildKat bowl and Demyx's open mouth.

"You can close your mouth around that spoon now, Demyx. No need to gape."

Demyx blinked a few times and then did as he was told.

"I feel boring sitting next to you," he admitted after a bout of silence. "Like my genetic makeup represented in a painting would just be the word average painted in white on a large black canvas."

_Interesting. I made someone feel boring. New._

"No, I find you intriguing enough," Zexion consoled him. Though, truthfully, he found most people amusing.

"I know you're just being nice, but thanks." He took a sip of his cappuccino. "You wanna go play now?"

"I'm ready."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"What do you mean, 'I don't think this was a good idea'?"

Riku sighed and got up to climb into a proper laying position on his friend's bed. Axel joined him and the two lay on their sides, facing each other.

"I mean, that other night with Sora, was amazing and completely hot, but the morning after when he was done with his shower, I had to give him some of my stage make up to cover the marks on his neck, and he was so panicked while I was showing him how to apply it that he basically drew zebra stripes all over himself the first few times. I mean, he was happy and all on the surface, but I don't think he even realized how much he was shaking."

Axel reached forward and took one of Riku's strands of hair into his fingers, twirling the silvery stuff as his friend spoke.

"And even worse than that was the ride home. It felt like an awful walk of shame even though there was nothing really to be ashamed about. He's of consenting age."

"Maybe you feel like this because he's not a legal adult yet."

Riku shrugged. "Maybe. But this nagging feeling has just been all over the place, and I don't think I'm okay with... with this. This kind of relationship we have just... After yesterday morning, I can't shake the feeling that I'm more like an experiment to him than a person."

"That's probably an unfounded assumption," Axel assured him. "I mean, what signs has he given that you're just an experiment? None, am I right?"

Riku's eyes focused to where Axel's fingers were twirling around a strand of his silver hair.

Because that night, Sora had said he loved Riku and all Riku could bear to say was the polite, "thank you." Where that normally wouldn't have bothered him, there was a moment, the briefest of moments, where he remembered wiping away a teardrop from Sora's cheek as he was sound asleep. The poor angel, unknown tears falling in his sleep. His Angel. His Angel had been crying, and Riku couldn't even ask to see if he was the cause.

"Yeah," Riku lied, "I guess. Maybe you're right."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

They'd been tailing a woman in a solid pink suit for the last thirty six minutes trying to figure out if she was some sort of media business or if she was an unemployed actress. While Zexion was able to reason that she was likely a reporter with a boyfriend and a small dog at home, Demyx was also able to point out the signs of her being unemployed as an actress but making minimum wage as a waitress, younger than she looked, and some potential lesbianism.

"People in communications typically have smart phones like that," Zexion argued. "And her nails are perfectly manicured, so she likely never works with her hands."

"The pinky fingernail of her manicure fell off at some point, and you can see it because all the other nails are placed higher up than that one. She probably lost it clearing a table or something. And theater types I know are all notoriously bad at managing their money in the first year. I'm sure your theater major friend Riku could attest to that."

By the time the pair looked away from one another, they'd realized the woman they'd been following was nowhere to be seen.

"Well there goes that round."

Zexion nodded noncommittally.

"What do you think: are we done being creepers for today?" Demyx kicked at the snow around his feet as he waited for a verbal response. Nothing. "Then I'd like to try again on guessing things about you."

"You would."

Zexion observed Demyx's eyes crinkling at the corners as he said this, like the casual teasing phrase signaled some sort of shift in their relationships. The man's entire body shifted toward his own quite unnecessarily.

"I don't think you were raised strictly, but you were inherently strict toward yourself."

"Correct."

"And we already found out you're a rich kid."

"You say that like I didn't know."

Demyx smiled. "Just let me cover this, okay? Now, you... have no siblings, so you treat Axel and Riku like brothers."

"Wrong."

The pair walked by a large, miraculously-running-in-the-middle-of-freezing-wintertime fountain and took at seat on an adjacent bench.

"I had an older brother, Seph, who drowned in the pool when I was just a couple weeks old. He was three."

"Oh." Demyx became quiet. "I'm sorry he... I'm sorry you never got to know him."

"It doesn't bother me."

Suddenly, a pair of fingers were pressing against his jaw and forcing him to turn his face upward. A pair of deep, green eyes were staring at his own blue ones.

"You can't fool me."

"What?"

"This is why you treat Axel and Riku like brothers," Demyx explained. "That's my best educated guess, based on how well I know you."

"You don't know me very well," Zexion turned away disdainfully.

"This isn't extremely difficult to see now that you've told me more about yourself," Demyx reasoned. "I mean, I probably couldn't have come to this conclusion had we talked like this when I first came back to the island, but now that we've spent a few hours together, everything starts to make more sense."

By now, Demyx's body was turned to fully face Zexion on the bench. His shoulders were entirely hunched inward as if arching his body like a protective shell make the conversation more intimate, more private.

Zexion made a survey around the fountain area, and realized that on a day like this only couples and small families were huddled around the benches.

What did this make their outing? A date? Demyx had said this wasn't a date, but more of a friendly outing, but... this wouldn't have been the first time Zexion went out on a date without knowing it. But then, that had only happened once. These kinds of things only happen once to Zexion, because he always learned from his mistakes. Every time. He knew the signals.

"Hello? Zexion, are you okay?"

"No, yes. I'm quite alright. Just thinking."

He turned toward the ground and indulged himself in a moment of childish snow kicking. The white fluff parted around his feet and made little jumps and skips in the air.

Demyx continued to stare at him while he was turned. He could feel the other man's eyes boring into the back of his neck as keenly as he could feel the blond shifting his weight around on the bench. Strangely, there was no discomfort in this silence; there was simply companionship. This wasn't something Zexion was particularly used to, as both Riku and Axel had been loud, rather lively people when they were younger and had simply matured into an occasional singular life-of-the-party kind of entity.

But this Demyx man. He could easily become the same kind of person—in fact, that was what Zexion thought he was, initially. He thought Demyx was always as loud and mobile as he was during the dinner outing where they first met, but...

_Looks like I need more practice reading people. Or maybe he's just... No. There's no such thing as 'different'. Social delusion. No one is special. I just need practice._

Perhaps he simply ran across another once-in-a-lifetime kind of interpersonal interaction opportunity. No doubt in three weeks, this man would be gone from his life leaving behind nothing but a rather fond yet foreign memory.

"You appreciate people, don't you?"

The sudden inference caught Zexion off guard.

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"That's the only reason I can think of that could convince you to want to be a Psych major." Zexion made a slight head nod, and Demyx grinned. "Well, I think that's enough successful deducting for one day, don't you think?"

Zexion nodded in agreement. "We should head back home then. Perhaps we shall speak again."

Demyx stood up as Zexion did and began walking side-by-side with the purple-haired man.

"Sunnyside Station is the other direction," Zexion pointed, confused.

"I'm going to walk you home."

Zexion stopped walking and looked toward the sky, musing.

"This... This is a date, isn't it?"

"Only if you want it to be."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The first thing the pair heard was a set of low voices through the front door. Though they were brewing tea in the kitchen, both Axel and Riku instantly dove toward the door to eavesdrop on the conversation outside.

"Well, now we're here," they heard through the door. A foreign voice. The oldest Esment. "I could stalk you home every night now if I wanted."

"I'd really prefer if you didn't," a more familiar tone replied. "Though, if you did you could easily beat me next time we play that deduction game of y—"

Then there was a sudden sound of shuffling and a gasp through the door. Neither roommate could figure out exactly what had just transpired, but the resulting thud against the door and muffled scuffling gave them a pretty clear idea of what was going on.

And the paired conclusion wasn't something they wanted to stick around to see the aftermath of.

"What are you doing?"

"My bad. I thought... well, I thought you were going to ki—"

"Oh, I wasn't." They could practically hear the smiling in the other man's voice. "I can see how I might be giving off the wrong impression, though. I was just going to open the door for you." There was a chuckle-filled pause where a jangle of keys passed between hands. "Sorry if that made you nervous."

"N-no, it's quite alright. "

Riku turned toward Axel and motioned for them to retreat to the redhead's bedroom.

"Well, good night then, Zexion. I hope this didn't spoil the trip."

"M-more like good... good day," Zexion corrected. "Perhaps, um, another time, Demyx."

"Text me, then."

At this time the doorknob to the apartment began to jangle and the eavesdroppers made a mad dash to Axel's bedroom. Just as the door began to open, the retreating pair was able to see their third roommate enter the living room.

Riku could've sworn that what he heard enter the apartment wasn't Zexion but a flustered teenage girl.

The man had opened the door frantically, a loud jangle of keys were stabbed against the lock and had been missing, his hands had flown all over the place, the door knob slipped around as he grabbed for the entrance to a safe-haven. That had been followed by a loud thud the pair could only guess was Zexion body-slamming the door shut.

"Yo, Zexy, you okay out there?" Axel asked.

They were both a bit breathless from their quick hiding. On the bed, Riku lay with his face buried into a pillow to muffle his laughter.

"I'm fine," Zexion called into the bedroom.

A few seconds later a rather disheveled version of the purple-haired man emerged from the living room. His usual neat collar was half upturned on his left side and his bangs were fallen more toward the middle of his face than over one eye. He shakily peeled the leather gloves he wore from his fingers, but quivered so much that he only got the synthetic second skin halfway down his hand before he gave up. Dejected, he sat down on the bed next to Axel.

"Here, let me help you with that."

Zexion held his hands out toward his friend, wrists upturned in defeat. He watched with half-lidded, listless eyes as Axel's slender fingers worked their magic around the leather he had so uncharacteristically sweated himself stuck into. In the meantime, Riku had stopped his rude guffaw against the pillows and scooted up behind Zexion and draped his arms around the purple-haired man's shoulders like a large, fluffy comforter with legs that adjusted around Zexion's own like a warm, pillowy throne.

Instead of quietly removing the silveret's arms from his person with a pinch of a forefinger and thumb, Zexion simply let Riku hang around him. Encouraged, Riku slid his arms lower and let them loop around Zexion's slim waist. He let his head rest on the purple-haired man's left shoulder, and Zexion settled against him like a kitten.

"I've..." he started, but hesitated. "I've never read a person so wrongly before."

"What?" Riku asked against his hair.

Zexion sighed. "No doubt you heard through the door. I backed away and nearly fell over when I thought he was trying to kiss me. But he wasn't."

As Axel peeled off the last finger of the second glove with a light pop, he asked, "So what do you think happened then?"

"… I don't know."

This was, perhaps, the first time in the history of their friendship that this trio had ever collectively heard these words uttered from Zexion's mouth. The man with all the answers, ability, and talent had no inkling of an idea of what had just happened to him on a personal level. He was lost. He was so lost, and he was so scared, and his best friends could feel it in the way he was still vibrating with nerves between Riku's steady arms and against Axel's hands.

"Maybe you were projecting," Riku suggested quietly. So quietly.

"No."

That was when Zexion stood up. A cold chill swept through the room and curled up languidly against Riku's spine. The kitten that had been buried in the down comforter was now a lithe minx flicking its tail dangerously, eying the two remaining men on the bed.

"I am strictly asexual!" Zexion whispered harshly. "It would do you well to remember that before making such—such _erroneous_ assumptions with terms you barely learned in a Psych 101 class!"

Though the tone was meant to be biting, the minx against Riku's spine slithered off the bed and curled up against Zexion's feet. The pair rose from the bed and followed it, each taking one of the purple-haired man's hands and clasping it gently to tug him back to the bed. Thoroughly listless now that the outburst had been cast out of his body, Zexion obeyed and sat down on the bed. Slowly, the color in his cheeks was returning, and the air about him was beginning to feel as uninviting and standoffish as the regular pissed-off Zexion would exude.

"Lay here and pull yourself together." Axel pushed his friend gently down onto his bed and tucked a pillow under his head.

"But, he began to protest, "I don't need—"

"Fuck's sake!" Axel laughed. "Just lay down for a moment, would ya?"

Outside the electric plug-in kettle beeped twice, and Riku rose to fetch the water. "We'll bring you a mug of black tea. Just lay down."

And as the pair left their flustered friend in the bedroom, the redheaded one turned to the other and whispered:

"It's about time he learned how to fall in love."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

An entire day had passed and only Demyx had crossed the threshold to leave the Esment household. Everyone else lay huddled in their own thoughts.

Around the curved hallway, inside the twins's shared bedroom, Sora lay looking toward the window to the night sky. Behind him, on the same mattress lay Roxas, arms raised, hands tucked behind his pillow. The consistent chirp of insect life outside had been spiking and falling in sudden crescendos and decrescendos over the past half hour. This could be thanks to a person who lived on the third floor who was throwing rocks out the window every time they got too loud.

"That's sixteen now," Sora commented.

"Hn."

"I'm surprised anyone has enough rocks in their room to do that with."

"He could just be throwing trash around outside," Roxas offered. "I doubt anyone keeps a bucket of rocks in his room for pelting small bugs."

Sora flipped over in his bed to face his twin, elbowing the blond in the process. Clearly, these mattresses weren't made for more than one and a half bodies. The only reasons the twins could fit reasonably comfortably was the fact that they were always physically close as twins and both quite slender. From this distance, Sora could just barely focus and unfocus his eyes between the strand of hair stuck in the corner of Roxas's mouth and the small dent on his forehead from a chocobo pox scar when they were ten.

"Rox, you're being snarky. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No."

"Anything you want to ask me?"

"No."

Unresolved tension curled between Roxas's eyebrows. Sora reached a fingertip forward and began smoothing out the wrinkles. Slowly, Roxas's facial features relaxed, and he let out a sharp puff of air upward to Sora's hand.

"Aren't you worried about the age difference between you and Riku?"

Sora withdrew his hand and tucked it under his body. Of course he was. Of course he was worried about what people would think. What, with him being seventeen and Riku being twenty-three. Six whole years apart. Six. Half a dozen. Half a Zodiac cycle, the number of steps it took to reach the lobby of his mom's rehab center, the amount of windows there were in every classroom at Twilight Academy—six.

"I mean, I know the legal age of consent is seventeen in the Hearts region, but—"

"But what, Roxas?" Sora laughed, wincing at the bruises on his neck smarting as his muscles tensed. "If I were to go to Atlantica, it would be illegal; if I went to Agrabah, Riku would be thrown into jail for this. I know, Rox, I know."

" 'But are you ready for this,' is what I was going to say," Roxas whispered. "I mean, the law matters, but we're in the _Hearts_ region. While we're lucky it's legal here, I think it's more important to know if you're ready for this. Are you ready to date someone that's in grad school?"

"I—"

Roxas turned to face his brother and quickly hugged him close to his chest.

"Look, I know you have more experience than me, but I've known who I am much longer than you have. Are you sure you're doing the right thing for _yourself_ by being in this relationship?"

Sora sighed and turned toward the window. His brother's arms tightened around his stomach, but Sora lay unflinching. He'd felt ready for this. After the race, on the date, two nights ago in Riku's flat, but that morning when he woke up... But this questioning himself. The sudden uncertainty that came with facing reality was just too much to try to think out in one night. And facing the kind of situation Riku could be put in for dating a minor was just...

"I'll get back to you in the morning," he replied. _I'll get back to myself in the morning, I guess._

Roxas nodded in reply against his back, and was asleep within the next half hour.

Sora, on the other hand, stayed up until the rocks from the third floor stopped passing through the window.

* * *

Alternately titled: "The Weekend Everyone Couldn't Stop Crying."

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Aindel S Druida, my beta, for putting up with my long silences and fixing my sentences that start with one thought and end with another. This woman is amazing, and I'm very, very lucky to have her here to help. Show her some love! :D

Anyway, expect to finally see focus return to Axel and Roxas. I keep turning to other couples on accident, so I WILL to force myself back. It's an Akuroku fic after all.

_Bisous,_

_Mini _


End file.
